Out of the Box
by appabend
Summary: Wally West ran as fast as he could to try and defeat the alien threat for the world. After having the last moment of his life, he found out that he wasn't actually completely disintegrated. [AU; Rated T; COMPLETE]
1. Prologue

_Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans or Young Justice. Cover Image is taken from Google Image and edited by me. I want to credit the original creator, but unfortunately I can't find out who made it as it was only a stock photo from a website. So for anyone who feel that the cover is your own, please do PM me and I'll give you a credit._

##

Prologue

A sound popped up in the storage room of the Titans Tower. It wasn't the usual, rats strolling around the ventilation noise. It was like a wrecking ball came crashing through piles of wooden boxes. He certainly remembered that he had some wooden boxes in the storage room, but he couldn't really tell if there's an object enough to break through most of them. The ceilings of the storage room weren't too high. So even if a box did fall, it wouldn't be enough to completely shatter it to pieces, let alone causing that noise.

Who would attack the Titans Tower anyway? It was in a secret base in the middle of nowhere and protected with invisible barriers and radar scramblers. There were transporter beams around and they could make their ways easily. There was no other access in the basement, unless if someone is trying to dig themselves out.

Damian Wayne, still on his Robin outfit after a long mission, walked in through the boxes unnoticed. The colors of his outfit could be a dead giveaway, but the shadows were still perfect enough for him to get through without someone batting an eye. The structured nature of the storage room also helped well on his sneaking. After batting himself through the shadows of the room, he took a glance of what was causing the noise this entire time.

He couldn't really tell at first who caused that one hell of a noise, but if there's one thing that he's quite certain at, the boxes did break, and it broke hard.

There was a pile of wooden boxes as wide as a chair. After remembering the locations of where he put his stuff, he knew that the boxes contained old carbon fiber materials that Robin used for his armor experiments. Four wooden boxes stacked in a 2x2x2 manner against the wall. This thing somehow managed to break through all four wooden boxes at once until it hit the metal wall in the back. If it was really a person, he/she was so lucky that the carbon fiber rolls were at least strong enough to give him/her comfort after the impact. But even then, it was still quite rough.

Robin ran towards the broken boxes, passing by the smalls wooden scraps that was scattered on the floor thanks to the impact. He picked up and threw the carbon fiber rolls away from the ruins. As he dug deeper and deeper, he finally found the cause of the entire mess.

It was a person: Male, red haired, early 20s, wearing a yellow suit costume with a lot of red lightning motives around it. Just from the overall look, he could already guess that this person is a speedster, someone who can run beyond the speed of sound. The only person he knew who have managed to accomplish this feat was Barry Allen AKA The Flash. The costume that he had right now had a lot of resemblance, with the exception that the red and yellow color being reversed and his mask only covered his face and not his red hair.

All the sudden, he gasped and opened his eyes wide. He managed to startle the Boy Wonder as he stumbled into the back in surprise, falling into the other carbon fiber rolls. He was still conscious after crashing through four wooden boxes containing one of the strongest silks in the world. That alone was quite the accomplishment.

"Uh... hello?" Robin asked. The diplomatic approach was always the first priority. "Uh... are you alright?"

His breath was quick at first, but it slowly weakened. He took a glance around the area, trying to figure out where he was at this moment. And then, he paid his attention towards the Boy Wonder. He didn't react to him or anything like that. He just... froze.

"It's fine." Robin said. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Where am I?" He asked. "What... what's going on? Why am I here?"

"You're in the Titans Tower." Robin began his words. "My name is Robin. You just zapped here out of nowhere and breaking through stuff. I heard the noise and I checked in downstairs. Who are you?"

"I'm... I'm Kid Flash." He said. "And..."

"Kid... Flash?" Robin raised his eyebrows. "Uh... Do you know the Flash?"

Kid Flash widened his eyes. "Yes, I know... Uncle Barry... I know him. Where is he?"

"Barry is your Uncle?" Robin said. "It's fine. I know him well. I can get you in contact with him and he'll talk to you, okay? Is that good for you?"

"Is he alright?" Kid Flash said. "Is he? Please tell me..."

"He's fine." Robin said. "You don't need to worry."

Kid Flash leaned the back of his neck towards the pile of carbon fiber rolls and breathed a sigh of relief as he heard that news. Robin was still skeptical though. It was almost like he heard someone came back to life. He rose his head back up to ask another question.

"Artemis..." Kid Flash asked. "How about Artemis... is she alright?"

"Artemis?" Robin said. "Who's Artemis?"

"What?" Kid Flash got his mouth hanging on that sentence. "You... you don't know?"

"Who are you? Your real name, I mean?" Robin said.

"Wait... you're not Robin." He backed away. "The only peoples that I know for taking that role are Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, and Tim Drake. Jason died after Batman failed to save him. Am I in the future? Who are you supposed to be?"

"Wait, Jason?" Robin sharpened his eyes. "Tim has been Robin, but he is now Red Robin. Dick Grayson was Nightwing. He retired after he started his family with Barbara. Jason has never been Robin. He's the Red Hood, mercenary and hired hitman."

"You knew all of those peoples?"

"The better question is how the hell did you know all of those?"

"You don't know? I was a part of you!" Kid Flash said. "I was with the team! You don't remember the team? Miss Martian, Superboy, Aqualad, Blue Beetle, Artemis, Nightwing? Beast Boy?"

Robin sighed. He had detected lies before in his life, but he just regained his consciousness after breaking through boxes containing one of the strongest materials on Earth. It wasn't a really good time of lying especially if he didn't know where he is right now. Damian took off his mask, revealing his face towards the complete stranger who seemed to have known a lot of the team.

"Look, I knew Miss Martian, Superboy, and Blue Beetle." Damian said. "I also know Dick very well. He's like a brother to me. Tim... we had our problems but we mostly sorted them out. I have lots of problems with Jason, but he was doing what he does and I can't always stop him."

"Jason is still alive?"

"Yes, and he never becomes Robin, nor will I ever let him." Damian said. "My name is Damian Wayne. I'm the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia Al Ghul. I wasn't the brightest of heroes back then, but things happen and I... changed somehow. So you were a part of the Titans?"

"The Titans?" Kid Flash said. "I... I don't know what you're talking about."

"Then how did you know those names?"

"Because I was with them!" Kid Flash said. "How about the Reach, the Kroloteans? Are we safe from them?"

"The... the what now?" Robin said. "Look, you're not making any sense. I don't even know that Barry has a nephew."

"Wait, I think..." Kid Flash said. "Are we in the future...?"

"That depends." Damian said. "What time were you in?"

"What time are _you _in?" He snapped.

Damian raised his head at that retort, but he answered it anyway for his service. "2029."

He froze. He stumbled back to the carbon fiber rolls and grabbed his face in desperation. There was sobbing right beyond all of that, but Damian couldn't tell why. That sobbing turned hysterical as Kid Flash took his goggles off and screamed. He was completely puzzled. That scream felt like a desperate cry for help, and it really sent shivers down his spine.

"What's wrong?" Damian rushed on him. "Hey, tell me what's wrong!"

Damian rested both of his hands on his shoulder, trying as hard as possible to convince him to snap out, but he couldn't. His mental health just couldn't stand up to it. This alien attack has turned this normal early 20s teenager to tremble. His mouth was shaking. His sight was transfixed into something non-existent in front of him. He ignored the sight of the Boy Wonder trying to calm his nerves. He just stared into something empty, something better than what he just realized right now.

"I..." He muttered. "I... left them... They... didn't... know..."

"I want you to calm down." Damian said. "Count to four, inhale. Count to four, exhale."

"Can I calm down once I know that my friends are dead?" He muttered, too exhausted to even crack a voice. "And I wasn't there to save them?"

"Your friends are safe." Damian said. "I... I don't know how do you know Superboy or Blue Beetle, but they're fine. Don't worry."

"Artemis?" He turned his weak, exhausted face towards him. "How about her? Please, I want to know."

"I... I don't even know." Robin said. "I don't know who Artemis is."

"How couldn't you!?" He yelled. "She was a part of the Team for years now!"

"I'm sorry." Damian said. "I don't know who this Artemis is. You have to believe me."

"Just tell me she's dead and spare me the pain." He said. "I thought... I thought I lost it. I thought I was trapped inside that space forever."

"What space?" Damian asked. "Where did you come from? I mean... when did you come from?"

He didn't turn his face. He simply glared at him to give his answer. "I came from 2016."

Damian slowly backed away. "That's impossible."

"Why?"

"You... we... the Titans... Superboy... Megan... they weren't there." Damian said. "Nightwing and Robin exist, but Barry doesn't have his powers and I doubt that you even exist at that time."

"What?"

"Start from the beginning." Damian said. "Tell me what happened. Tell me your name, your real name. I've told you mine. So let's trust each other, okay?"

He began to give his reply. It was a simple nod, but it was all that Damian needed from him.

"My name is Wally West." He began. "I'm... Barry's nephew. I... was in a mission to stop an alien force called the Reach. They have set up these devices and I have to stop them by running really fast, but I wasn't fast enough and I got hit. I really thought I was going to die. I got... disintegrated. I said my goodbyes to my girlfriend, Artemis, and..."

"And then what?"

"I was... trapped in some sort of a void." Wally said. "I was there for like... two hours. I kept running and running and running. I don't know how fast I've run. Then I crashed into these..."

Wally was lost on his train of thought. He widened his eyes all the sudden. The sudden face change caused Damian to startle for a bit.

"Shit." Wally said. "I should've known."

"Should've known what–"

Wally grabbed Damian on his throat and ran super speed towards a nearby metal wall to slam him down. The force was enough to cause quite the banging noise. It echoed through the entire room, and Damian was powerless to stop it.

"What...?" Damian struggled to get out of his choke.

"Where am I?"

"You're in... Titans Tower."

"Lie!"

Wally pulled him and slammed him down the wall again in super speed. That combined with his throat on chokehold caused a very painful groan from Damian. It didn't stop there, though. Damian's struggle of breathing was made apparent as he grabbed on Wally's arm and trying to fight him back.

"Tell me where I am right now!" Wally shouted. "Tell me the truth! Am I in some sort of a simulation? Am I in the Matrix? You sick aliens! WHERE IS ARTEMIS!?"

Thankfully, someone else more proficient come in and saved the day. It was Raven, the young and dark sorceress who wore a dark purple cloak. She got him on a chokehold through her Azarath magic, a dark purple energy force that surrounded his throat and pulled him away from Damian. Damian was released out of the speedster's choke. He fell down the floor and grabbed his chest, regaining his breath through some painful heavy breathing. The speedster was powerless to stop the magic, nor does he have any power to break from it at all.

Unfortunately, things got rather heavy handed. Kid Flash vibrated inside Raven's energy choke and managed to escape. Unable to handle the speed, Raven released the magic out of him. Immediately, the speedster charged towards Raven and pushed her all the way into the stairway. She slammed on a nearby metal wall and fell down to the floor, but still conscious.

"Raven!"

The speedster stopped his attack the moment he noticed a small flying green bird gliding towards him. In an instant, the bird transformed back into a human, revealing Beast Boy knocking Wally out with a kick. Wally stumbled back and fell down a few feet as Beast Boy stood up defending Raven from any more attack.

"Stay away from her!" Beast Boy said.

"Garfield." Damian called him. "Calm down."

Wally stood up after getting himself knocked by the green beast. For some reason, he stopped attacking and widened his eyes. He kept his eyes transfixed on Garfield alone, almost like he actually knew him in his own little world.

"Oh shit." He said. "Garfield... Garfield Logan?"

"Yeah, that's me." Garfield said, giving his own barrier between the speedster and Raven. "What do you want? Why are you attacking my friend? How did you know my name?"

"Everyone knows your name, Gar." Raven replied from the back using her usual monotone.

"You look... older." Wally said. "Last time I checked, you were still very young."

Garfield sharpened his eyes. "What? I didn't know you."

"You don't remember me?" Wally said. "I was with you in 2016. We were attacked by the Reach. We were fighting together for the Team."

"Dude, I didn't even have my powers at 2016." Garfield revealed.

"Wait..." Raven interrupted the entire ordeal. "I think... I can somehow explain."

Another Titans member, the lovely and beautiful Tamaranean Starfire, came into the storage room to check up on things.

"Is everything alright?" Starfire asked with that always lovely voice of her. "I've heard noises. I'm afraid something horrible might happen."

"We're fine." Robin said. "What are you trying to say, Raven?"

"I know it sounds bizarre at first, but trust me. It's going to make a whole lot of sense if you think about it." Raven said. "I think he came from another universe."

Robin shivered down towards his spine. Another being from another universe? He knew that Raven was a magical being but the fact that someone from another universe actually made a leap and create another one is just baffling to him. How was that even possible anyway? Time-travel wasn't even remotely possible. It has been proven so many times in the past and he's going to believe in those again. Even with Raven's magic, time travel was quite an impossible feat.

"What?" Damian said.

"His past was inconsistent to ours." Raven said. "He shows genuine signs of confusion, and it's not caused by memory loss."

"What?" Wally said. "What are you talking about?"

"Now Wally," Damian struggled to regain his breath. "We are about as clueless as you are. We have tons of questions in our head and believe me when I say that we want to know it as much as you do. I don't want a fight between any of us here. I want answers just like you. In the meantime, I want you to go clean yourself up first and take some rest. We'll find the answer soon enough, okay? If what Raven said is right... we'll let you know, but please don't go until we find out what's going on."

Wally sighed, glancing down back on the ground and thinking of the offer. "Deal."

"Since you know Jaime and Tim, I will call them to take care of you." Robin said. "Raven, you'd better have a good explanation about this."


	2. Adapting

C02: Adapting

Wally had gotten some new clothes that Tim provided for him. He looked much better now than he was compared to when Robin found him in the storage room. Right now, they were chilling in their living room with Wally having a blanket over his shoulder. Tim noticed that he was quite shocked, and his clothing merely indicate that he just came from a very terrible war. He liked the design, at least until the whole thing is cleaned up and patched.

"Another universe... Wow..." Tim began. "I still couldn't believe it. Those are comic book stuff."

"I know, right?" Wally said.

"So... I replaced Dick as Robin?" Tim said.

"No, you replaced Jason. Jason replaced Dick." Wally said.

"Jason?" Tim said. "Jason as Robin... wow I just couldn't imagine that."

"Why can't you?"

"In this universe, Jason is the Red Hood, Nightwing's kind of sort of friend or rival. I don't know. It's complicated." Tim said.

Wally nodded.

"So how about Dick? Do you know him?" Tim asked.

"Oh hell yes. He's one hell of a guy." Wally said. "We're amazing friends ever since the first year that the Team is made. We didn't even have a name for the team, so we just call it that. The Team."

"The team?"

"Well, it has me, Kaldur, Conner, Megan, and Artemis." Wally said. "All just being nice and peaceful kicking evil bad guys' butts here and there."

"How often did you get bad guys?"

"When we were at our first run, it was like every week." Wally said.

"Every week?" Tim said. "And these are not just your typical normal human robbers, aren't they?"

"Oh don't get me started on them." Wally said. "They're like one of the worst peoples you've ever met. They got superpowers too. That's what makes them tough."

"That's awful." Tim said.

"I'm sorry for being a little harsh to Damian." Wally said.

"Hey, you were being harsh on Damian." Tim said. "If anything, I should say thank you on that. He's a jerk, but don't underestimate him. He's a jerk with a girlfriend."

"Oh that girl with the tanned skin. That's his girlfriend?"

"Yup." Tim said. "Even the smartest guy in the world couldn't figure out how the two ends up like that. When they first met, Starfire actually kissed him. It was to learn his language or something like that. And ever since then, he began to develop some feelings. Hey, there's nothing that turns you on than a random first kiss from a stranger, right?"

Wally giggled. "That's true."

"He confessed to her right after the Brotherhood of Evil War." Tim said. "The two had feelings and they showed hints. I could figure them out, but I still don't know how they got them."

"That's always the big question, right?" Wally said. "I never know how the hell I got with Artemis. We hate each other at first, but time went on and we begin to find comfort. I love her ever since then."

"Lunch is ready!"

Jaime came in from the kitchen with a tray containing the said thing. It consisted of a cup, no doubt hot as smokes coming out of it, and French Toasts. Good lord he couldn't get tired of the Toasts.

"_Guys," _The voice of Megan began to scramble in on Tim and Jaime's head. _"Damian wanted some precautions to be taken on Wally. So he wanted me to get on his head and find more information, just in case he's lying."_

"_Okay, I can dig it." _Tim shared his thought. _"You might want to tell Wally about it too."_

"_I can hear her from here. Her voice is always like this." _Wally thought. _"Okay, get into my head and see what you can dig."_

##

Megan is a telepath and Raven is an empath. The two can read emotions and thoughts more so than average human beings. They know when peoples lie and when peoples don't. The most refreshing thing of all is that they had the chance to show what they can do to find the explanation of a strange phenomenon as strange as a speedster teleporting into an alternative dimension crashing into the Titans Tower's storage room.

As Megan did her thing, she began to sharpen her eyes on the vision that she's having. Her teeth began to clench and the grit of her teeth can be seen on her face. Moments later, she opened her eyes with a shock, eyes and mouth widened as she froze still in her place. Her breathing sounds began to get more apparent, and her hands that were once in her head now loosen and slowly put down.

"So did you find anything?" Damian asked.

"It's... horrible." Megan said. "He's telling the truth. There was a war. There was a conspiracy. There are a lot of supervillains. Everyone died. It happened in Wally's Universe in 2016."

"So he really came from another universe? Wow." Damian said. "But that still doesn't explain how he got here."

"Maybe because he ran so fast that the fabric of time and space is irrelevant to him." Raven moved in to put her input on things.

"You're the one concluded that he came from another universe. On what basis?" Damian said.

"He genuinely showed a rather alarming spike of confusion. I can feel it." Raven said. "The universe is infinite, because there are trillions of variables that can go right and wrong."

"How well do you know about multiverse?"

"Well, I know a little but I know well enough to know that they exist." Raven said. "Just in case if you don't know, the basic of Azarath's magic comes from the ability to control the third dimension, our dimension, the world we live in. Each universe has five different dimensions with different beings and creatures in each like us in the third dimension and the Azaraths or the Amazons in the fourth. That's barely scratching the surface. I can't tell you too much so I'm just going to focus the matter at hand: Universe Travel."

"Can you do that with magic?" Damian asked.

"I can't make something like that happen with my magic, neither can Time Travel."

"Why not?" Damian asked.

"Yes, why not?" Megan said. "One of the peoples on Wally's universe has time-travelled into the past."

Raven groaned. "Look, it's really complicating. I can't really explain to you in broad detail because it's going to really take a while. The point is that travelling to the past is impossible and so is breaching through the barrier of this universe to go into the other, but travelling to the future is easier than you might think."

"Wally is a speedster." Damian said. "Something about his speed might have something to do with him breaching through here."

"He's going to need more than the speed of light to breach through a universe." Raven said. "It's impossible to break that barrier."

"Okay, let's discuss the universe travel sometime." Damian said. "How about him? Does he have any secrets or hidden plans?"

"No. He absolutely have no idea how he got here." Raven said. "Even the most powerful magic of Azarath cannot replicate true human emotions the same way science couldn't. No magic was able to recreate memories too. Even if there is, someone has to change it in the smallest details. One contradictory detail and the old memory will come back. So yes. He's genuinely from another universe."

"So everything he said, that's totally genuine? No fake outs?"

"Yes." Raven said.

"Then it's decided." Damian said. "We're going to keep him here and make him to be one of us. Since he didn't exist in our universe, then we should also consider making him a new ID too."

Raven scoffed, still with her cold expression. "Funny."

"I'm not joking."

##

"What about this... Justice League?" Jaime asked. "It sounds like really cool guys."

"They're really cool." Wally said. "Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Green Arrow, all of those superheroes united into one fighting monsters or aliens trying to destroy humanity."

"I didn't even know we had that many heroes." Tim said. "Well, we have Batman and Green Arrow, that's for sure. Superman, Wonder Woman, and Flash came after both of them. Oh and there's also Martian Manhunter. But other than those, we don't know the rest. I actually fought Green Arrow once. I never thought that he's going to be a good friend of mine."

"Oliver Queen, I know." Wally said. "But seriously, you guys don't know Artemis?"

"Nope." Tim said.

"No idea, esse." Jaime said. "Sorry."

"Who is Artemis?" Tim asked.

"Well, Artemis is my girlfriend." Wally said. "She's an archer, one of the few being taught by Green Arrow. She's his niece, but then I found out that she wasn't really his niece. She turns out to be the daughter of two ex-cons and Oliver just adopted her."

"Wow." Jaime said. "But she's still a hero, right?"

"Yes, she is." Wally said. "Let me tell you she's really good at those arrows. She could strike my heart anytime."

Tim smiled. "I bet she is. The only female archer we had on our team is Speedy. Her real name is Mia Queen. She's Oliver Queen's sister."

"I don't even know if Oliver had a sister." Wally said.

"How about us?" Tim said. "You seemed to recognize us very well."

"Your hair was a little different than what I remembered." Wally said. "Your hair is more... blocky. If it weren't for your face, I wouldn't recognize you. Jaime looked the same to me, though."

"I don't know but somehow I believed what Damian said." Tim said. "We've had tons of absurd things happening in our lives we practically take all that we can get. We don't want to waste time not believing in something that's in our face."

"Sometimes, the weirder the thing, the harder we kick their asses off." Jaime said.

"Yeah, I can say the same too." Tim said.

Wally giggled with them.

"Do you want to tell me what's going on in your universe?" Tim said. "You ran so fast and you broke the sound barrier unintentionally to travel into ours."

Wally began holding his cup of hot chocolate tight as he pulled it closer to take a little sip. His face was very depressed, almost like he got nothing else to say other than it's the worst possible thing that could happen to humanity in years.

"We had tons of supervillains in our asses." Wally said. "They somehow joined together, made a group so that they could destroy Earth and its people. I don't get it. Why Earth of all places?"

"It wouldn't be interesting if it wasn't Earth." Tim said. "That's the standard fiction rules. If you want tragedy, having one on Earth would sell."

"Yeah, but this wasn't fiction. It's real." Wally said. "I swear to god. A lot of peoples had to die to save Earth, including me, at least that's what they might have thought. I just... disappeared and I went all the way here. They must have been worried about me, mourning me in my grave."

"I couldn't lie when I say that that's what they would do." Tim said. "If you were really my friend in your universe, that's what I would've done."

"Same here too." Jaime said. "What really happened back then? How did the aliens got you?"

"Well, it all started off with a bunch of peoples missing." Wally said. "I found out that these peoples were fake. They were controlled by these tiny aliens and the real ones were held captive. The more we investigate, the more we find out about the Reach, and they're bad news for all of us there."

"That sounds horrible." Tim said. "Anything else?"

"Nightwing had lots of crazy ideas on his head." Wally said. "Even though I agree with some parts, I mostly disagree with him. Aqualad defected from us and killed Artemis. It was a fake out by the way. It was all so that Artemis could take another identity and go undercover to the enemies. Even though I knew it was fake, I knew that lots of things could go wrong, and it did. Megan was so angry that her powers caused Aqualad to get into some sort of a coma. Artemis got busted and the plan failed. We thought we lose, but we fought with our last living breath and I don't give a crap. I just want to win. We found the weapons, we destroyed them, at least we tried to, and that's how I got here. I don't know if we win or not. That's the huge problem."

"I'm so sorry." Tim said. "We had our shares of wars too. In the first one, we had to deal with General Zod and the Kryptonians. They're a bitch to handle. Conner is my best friend, but I never thought of him as a Kryptonian. That is until I find out more about him. Conner is actually General Zod's son if you believe me."

"Really?" Wally said. "I thought he was a clone of Lex Luthor and Superman?"

"Not in this universe." Tim said. "He was sent by Zod to observe and spy on the humans. So instead of confronting him about it, I just show him to my friends in the Titans. I asked him to use his powers to save the lives of others. He agreed, and soon enough he changed for the better."

"Changed?" Wally said.

"He revealed that he was sent to Earth by General Zod." Tim said. "Zod reveals that he's going to use his alien machine or something to level the Earth and make a new Krypton, but that has to be in a foundation, and that foundation is the dead bodies of humanity. We can't let that happen. So me, the Titans, Superboy, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Superman as we found out, fought Zod and his... I don't know like five of his men. They're strong, but they're not as strong as Superboy or Superman for that matter. They had no time to absorb the sun's light. Zod is now... well I'm not going to talk about it."

"Wow." Wally said.

"That's the first out of three major wars we fought in." Tim said. "The second one is quite the crazy trip, but we don't want to go into the details of the third one. The less you know, the better."

"Oh okay." Wally said.

"_Guys," _Damian called. This time, it was through his PA. _"Meet me in the meeting room. There's something important to talk about."_


	3. Introductions

Introductions  
#Part 2#

Wally stumbled on the said meeting room, and by god he was surprised. It was very dark. Only the blue colors of the minimalist neon blue lights were visible. There was a huge round table in the middle and the room was filled and seated with the superheroes also known as the Titans.

"Megan has confirmed that Wally is telling the truth." Damian said. "Since Wally is in our universe right now and he was a hero, I want you all to treat him and welcome him like our newest member. All of you, let's start off with the introductions, real name included."

Damian stood up from his seat and introduced himself. "My name is Damian Wayne. I'm the owner of Wayne Enterprise after my father retired. I'm the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia Al Ghul. I was trained by the League of Assassins and Ra's Al Ghul, not the kindest peoples you would imagine. I was a real annoying snob who had no sympathy towards others and wouldn't just leave peoples alone... maybe I still am..."

That got a chuckle out of the members.

"But the Bat Clan has changed me." Damian said. "Dick, Tim, Stephanie, all has worked their hardest to shape me to what I am right now. Right now, I'm Robin and I'm leading this team as best as I could. That's all."

Everyone clapped on with Wally following. For the next introduction, the chick with the natural tan and pink armor stood up. She looked absolutely amazing, and he could see Damian darting his eyes towards her.

"My name is Starfire. You can call me Kori or Star." She began. "I am from planet called Tamaran. I came here to Earth after I escaped from a terrible war in my planet. There's no such war right now, but I preferred to stay here with my friends where I have a purpose, and a better life."

She gave her stunning green eyes towards Damian and smiled at him. Even the brooding jerk like Damian had to respond to that stunning smile with his, and it was true. Tim had told him about how much he could never shut up about her, and the proof was there.

Garfield, the little green beast, faked a sneeze towards the two as a form of interruption. Both gave him death glares in result, causing him to widen his eyes and slowly put his hands back.

"Sorry!" Garfield scratched his back.

Starfire sighed. "It is your turn now."

"Right!" Garfield rose up from his seat, jumping, and began his introductions. "My name is Garfield Logan. You can call me Beast Boy!"

From the way he acted, the way he stood up right on the middle of the superheroes, Wally could tell that he already liked the guy.

"My origin story begins a looong time ago." Garfield began. "It was a fun time in Gotham City. I had a school, a non-existent social life, a bully that bullies me every five seconds even to this day..."

He crossed his eyes and darted towards the giant robot Cyborg. "Hey sorry, Man."

"But then I met Damian and it was so cool of him!" Garfield said. "But I have a secret. I had this sickening disease called Sakuia. And dun dun dun... there was no cure! So my parents did their best to find a cure. Then I went to STAR Labs and I got cured! Everything went so well and good, right?"

"No." The chick with the purple hood and leotard replied very coldly. Garfield could only look her in disgust, even though she's probably right.

"She's right." He sighed. He stopped his array of cheerful storytelling and turned into a depressed mode. His voice was not as cheerful as before, and his tone began to drop down into a normal state. "The boat had an accident and it killed my parents. I dropped into the sea and began to transform and adapt. I got castaway on an island. There I found my calling. I learned my powers and began to embrace it as a part of my own. That's where Damian found me. That's where I became Beast Boy."

After that rather depressing turn of event, Garfield put both his hands on his hips and began smiling again. "If it hadn't been for you guys, I would have been so depressed. I would've been so sad, but look at me now! I'm smiling again! I want to fight! I want to kick ass! That's because you guys helped me on my way. Thanks! I love you! I love you all!"

Everyone clapped.

For some reason, when he said the word 'I love you', his attention froze on the purple hood chick. She was startled and widened her eyes at first, but the moment he said 'I love you all', she began to unease and sighed in disappointment. Is there something going on between the two? Or was it just him?

"Raven?" Damian called. "It's your turn."

Raven sighed and stood up in the most nonchalant of fashion. "My name is Raven. You can call me Rae or Rachel or whatever. I'm an empath and a sorcerer, but contrary to popular belief, I don't drink human blood. The less you know about me the better."

Garfield giggled under his breath. Raven noticed this and was sort of disturbed out by that. Just at first glance, Wally might not really like Raven, but the green beast Garfield had eyes on her for some reason. So perhaps there was something that he liked about her.

"Booyah! My turn!" Cyborg stood up. "Name's Cyborg. Real name's Victor Stone. I got turned into a Cyborg because Deathstroke sliced me up into pieces and stabbed me in the eye. Thank you so much by the way Slade, the maniac! Thanks to him, I got this weird face with Terminator eyes. Everyone's starting to look at me weird. But ever since I joined the Titans, everyone's starting to dig me! Everyone loves me because I'm saving the world! Thank you so much, guys!"

"You're welcome, Vic." Damian replied, continued with everyone clapping their hands.

Cyborg could potentially be a fun guy. Knowing that he bullied Garfield, he might not be, but at least he's having fun.

Megan stood up. She looked slightly different, but not much different other than her outfit which also wasn't too different than the original. Wally didn't really need introductions from her, but it didn't hurt to listen anyway.

"My name is Megan Morse." She began. "I'm a Martian, a shapeshifter, telepath, and from Mars. Me and my uncle the Martian Manhunter John Jones shapeshift into humans and started a new life here. When I hear that my blood can be used to save lives, I donor my blood. One of those bloods went into Garfield, and he's now my human-animal-shifting half-brother."

"Thanks, Sis!" Garfield said, giving a thumbs up and a bright smile.

"No problem!" She returned them. "Anyway, I didn't really know what to do with my powers until I meet all of you. Thank you so much for giving me purpose here. I wanted to do good and I wanted to make the world a better place. I have that chance here. Thank you."

Everyone clapped once again. This time, it was the guy that Wally had the most chats before Tim Drake.

"Right, my turn." He said. "My name is Tim Drake. I'm the owner of Drake Industries. I, Damian, and Stephanie are used to be heroes of Gotham City. I'm known as Red Robin, and I'm here to not only train martial arts, but to help as well. I'm not as good as when I do in my early years, but I'm doing as best as I can."

Tim took a seat back and it's his girlfriend's turn.

"My name is Stephanie Brown. I'm Batgirl. Need I say more?" She began. "Okay maybe a few more would be nice. I'm just a normal kid on the streets who was trained for a fight by a former soldier. But then I found out my criminal dad is on the loose. I put up a costume to kick his ass and Batman recognized me. So he trained me, a bunch of things happen, and here I am. Thanks."

Stephanie sat down. Wally wondered how the hell could Tim ended up with a smug girl like that.

The next one was Donna Troy, this world's version of Wonder Girl. Wonder Girl has a black hair this time unlike Cass. She didn't have the same costume as Wonder Woman, but her beauty and likeness really reflect the Princess of Themyscira.

"I am Donna Troy." She said. "I was trained by Wonder Woman to become the Earth's mightiest warriors. With the powers of the Amazons, I bring peace to this world with the help of my friends, the Titans. That is all."

She smiled. Donna sounded like a very gentle and nice person. It boggled his mind why Tim would break up with her, but he was really hoping that she had moved on.

The next one is the Hispanic superhero that he knew well with the scarab attached into his back. "Hi. My name is Jaime Reyes. I'm known as Blue Beetle. I'm Hispanic, esse. The scarab behind my back is my power. I can turn it on by my will and let me tell you it takes a while to get used to with him."

Suddenly, Jaime started laughing for absolutely no apparent reason. From the look of it, it looked like the scarab was... tickling him.

"Stop! Stop!" Jaime said. "Okay, I'm sorry!"

The tickling stopped as everyone only stared at him weird. Jaime was trying as hard as possible to get himself back up to speed, breathing rather heavily. Wally himself giggled on that thought alone, with everyone following him later.

The final two Titans were coming. Conner stood up from his seat and began his introductions. His Superboy outfit is no different: Black shirt with red Superman logo with blue jeans. Nothing much.

"I'm Conner Kent, AKA Superboy." He said. "Let's just say that us Kryptonians and humans had a really bad history, but I have chosen my side. I still have some daddy issues up my butt. Other than that, I'm good. That's all."

Classic Superboy. He always was the brooding loner jerk. No wonder he was Tim's best friend.

And finally, Mia Queen. Mia Queen had a long black hair strolling all the way to her upper shoulder. She wore a black undershirt and a yellow-colored arrowhead logo. The others wore very standard superhero outfits. Robin seems to have a little bit more color to him, though.

"Hi." Mia said, standing up. "My name is Mia Queen AKA Speedy. Just like Tim and Damian here, I'm the relative of a billionaire who happens to be Oliver Queen AKA Green Arrow. I didn't know that my brother is a Star City vigilante until years ago. And yeah just like Superboy, I had some bad bloods too. It turns out that I was the daughter of the Star City psychopath Malcolm Merlyn. When I have brother issues with Ollie, I went to him and he trained me. It turns out that he wasn't all entirely crazy. He's a maniac. So I left him. Then I found a purpose here in the Titans. I save peoples and save the world, and I totally love every moment of it, the good and the bad. Thank you so much, guys."

In Wally's eyes, she seemed like a very interesting parallel to Artemis. She acted like Artemis. She made smug faces like Artemis. She had bad bloods like Artemis. She had some horrible past like Artemis. She shot arrows too for god's sake.

"Now Wally," Damian turned his attention towards him. "It's time for you to introduce yourself."

"Right." Wally said, standing up. "My name is Wally West AKA Kid Flash. I'm a speedster like my uncle Barry Allen. I came from another universe very different than yours. In my universe, we have some sort of a Titans team, just not really called the Titans. It has Dick Grayson as Robin, my best friend forever, Aqualad, Conner, Megan, me, and finally Artemis, the archer on my team and my girlfriend."

The room was silent. Everyone kept their stare towards the kid that popped out of nowhere. Wally didn't have his KF outfit, however. He only had his red hair and a grey hoodie with white T-Shirt property of Tim's.

"There's a horrible war in my universe." Wally began. "We were fighting an alien force called the Reach. It's not like your General Zod or something like that. We had an entire team of supervillains against our asses. If there's one thing I wanted to say about that, it's the worst thing that can happen. We have peoples and superheroes dying here and there, and I can't do anything to save them."

Still, everyone stared at him with silent death stares, dark and depressing.

"If there's one thing that I learned from my last experience is that I'm not going to let the loss of my friends to put me down." Wally said. "I'm still going to fight. I know I'm weaker. I know I'm not strong enough, but I'm going to do anything that I can to save my favorite planet. I know you'd do the same too. I don't know how I'm going to travel back to my universe, but at least I'm not in some sort of an apocalyptic world or something."

Damian smiled. "We're all counting on you, Kid-Flash. You're going to be a great help. Consider yourself a member of the Titans."

He moved towards Wally to hand him over and wear him the Titans watch, a black-colored, elegantly designed communication device required for all the Titans to wear. It may look like a cheap KORD-tech made watch, but it was supposed to look that way for concealment.

Wally smiled. He glanced at the watch a few times before giving his gratitude. "Thanks, Robin."

Suddenly, everyone's watches rang. The room that was dark and comforting blue now turned into red bright red flashes.

"What's going on?" Wally asked.

"Trouble."

##

"There is a bank robbery somewhere in Star City." The voice of Dick Grayson came out of the speakers. "It's not a big deal when you see it at first, but he got a giant crocodile, a guy with a freeze gun, a guy with a pyro gun, and a giant Gorilla. The guy with the freeze gun is identified as Leonard Snart. The guy with the pyro gun is identified as Mick Rory."

"Killer Croc, Captain Cold, Heat Wave, and Grodd." KF said. "No big deals."

"You know these guys?" Robin asked.

"They're from my universe too." KF said.

Surprisingly, Dick Grayson wasn't really a superhero this time. He was a superhero. He was Nightwing, but ever since his marriage with former Batgirl Barbara Gordon, he needed a family to focus on. So he worked as an honest detective from that point on to get some money and live independently. Although from what he heard from Tim, he really missed the good old days.

"Right." Dick said. "Whatever kind of cute nicknames you're giving, they're trouble. So get there before they cause further chaos."

"We got it. We'll deal with this." Robin said, closing the transmission. "In a scale of one to ten, how hard do you think these guys are?"

"Around five or six." KF replied.

"Then we're going for a short team." Robin said. "Speedy, we're going to deal with the cryo and pyro guys. Superboy, try to handle the giant gorilla. Beast Boy, get Killer Croc. The rest, follow in the back and make sure that the civilians are well defended. Understand?"

"Roger!" Everyone replied with Wally trying as hard as he could to follow. He really wasn't used to with this team.

"Good." Robin said. "Titans, Go!"

##

_A/N: Ah... classic Teen Titans line. Always missed it. _

_Anyway, I would post one chapter at a time and if it's too long, I'll try to make it less than 3000 words. _


	4. Serious Injuries

Imperfection  
#Part 1#

"Wally," Robin turned towards him as he began running with them. "As much as we love to have you on the team, we're still having some trouble sewing the suit. Even with your super speed, I doubt that we're..."

Wally ran towards his suit and began his suit reparations in super speed. In just a flash, the suit was completely back intact and he already wore it on his sleeves. That gave quite the wide eyes from the Boy Wonder.

"I'm good!" Wally said with a smug on his face.

Unfortunately, that was interrupted with him groaning in pain and grabbing his leg. Bone crack noises can be heard. He dropped down below to the floor and began clutching on a fetal position, still groaning out loud. Robin helped him up and said his warnings.

"I suppose you're going to need some rest." Robin said. "Don't worry. We don't usually send all the Titans on the mission. You can take a rest while Tim and Stephanie look out for you."

Wally groaned in annoyance, but he was right.

##

Just when he could have some more time to go back to the action, injuries got the better of him. He was genuinely pissed off. If there's one thing he could've done to help, at least he could help them to save this world. He's a speedster and a damn good one at that. He really wanted to help these world's superheroes, filled with peoples he knew for so long, peoples that he barely knew and he wanted to know, all with unique and interesting stories. But alas. Now he had to sleep on the hospital bed, embarrassed.

Beside the bed was Stephanie Brown AKA Batgirl. Stephanie is significantly older than Damian Wayne and about as old as Tim Drake. Robin, Starfire, Raven, Speedy, Blue Beetle, and Beast Boy are around the same age (17-20) and thus probably better classified as the Junior Titans. Cyborg, Superboy, Wonder Girl, and Miss Martian are older and around the same age as Stephanie and Tim (21-28). Not only that, but Stephanie and Tim had been superheroes more so than the others. So they deserve to be called the Senior Titans. Damian could also be counted as a senior, but even then Stephanie and Tim had more experiences.

Tim and Stephanie didn't go for most missions. They were only trainers and planners, but they do still have their costumes and train themselves and sometimes fight if big missions happen. Stephanie right now was sitting on Wally's hospital bed. She didn't wore a doctor uniform, but she only wore a white sleeveless underclothes, leather jeans, and a few straps, kind of like making her some sort of a Wasteland Surgeon.

"Urgh." Wally said. "I really want to get there."

"I know exactly how that feel." Stephanie said. "Bruce wouldn't shut up about how I would put myself in danger if I go outside. The guy just don't understand. I'm 28 for god's sake! He's almost like babysitting me for a walk in a park."

"You're right." Wally said. "If there's one thing that I can say about Batman, he's kind of a jerk sometimes."

"Plus he's not a good daddy." Stephanie said. "Just in case you don't know, I had the honor to suffer him for the past five years. And Damian, well, he's just like him in a lot of ways."

"Like father like son."

Stephanie giggled. "Although I have to agree with him. Your bones are dislocated. It's probably because you ran way too fast. You can still walk and you won't feel it because your metabolism and regeneration processes are very fast like you said, but you need to let the wounds heal properly before you run again or they will dislocate easily. How can you run that fast anyway?"

"Uncle Barry as The Flash brought me to his lab for a few chats." Wally said. "When he explained that he got the powers through lightning and a bunch of chemical things that I don't understand, that day just happen that there was a lightning strike. It stroke through the lab and I got his power. Hey, lucky me right?"

"Wow." Stephanie said. "You're the luckiest guy ever."

"No kidding!" Wally leaned up to the back of his hospital bed. "I've been dreaming about the Flash for years. I want to be like him, have his powers. I'm a big fanboy, and now I'm his sidekick. I'm the happiest guy in the world."

"And now you're in some alternate dimension out of your own world. Definitely lucky you." Stephanie said. "Do you miss your world?"

"Yeah." Wally said. "I miss my world. I miss the Team. I miss Uncle Barry. I miss Artemis."

"Hey, if there's one thing that being a Batgirl taught me, love keeps you going." Stephanie said. "It makes you strong. Even if she's not here, she'll be out there thinking about you. So cheer up. I've been through that."

"With Tim?"

Stephanie paused. Wally crossed his hands on the back of his head and looking rather smug. That name just caught her off guard momentarily.

She sighed. "Yeah, with Tim. Anyway, do you need anything else before we begin?"

"Begin what?"

"The surgery."

"What surgery?"

"Your bones are dislocated." Stephanie said. "Your super-healing is not going to work when one part of your body is not on the right place. So do you need something else before we begin?"

"Wait." Wally said. "When Tim talks about you, he said something about you dying."

"Oh that." Stephanie said. "I didn't die. I just faked my death. Tim was too clever for me. He knew that I'm still alive, so he spent like an entire month in Mexico just to find me."

"He found you, did he?"

"Yeah." Stephanie said. "At that moment, Tim just said fuck it and kissed me. He said he always wanted to do that and he would never apologize for it, even if he's still in relationship with Donna. I was very happy that he did though, because I had feelings for him too, still have."

"That is so sweet." Wally said. "I wish Artemis and I would've had that same moment."

"Oh you will. Don't worry." Stephanie said. "Back to my first question then."

"Well, I need nothing for now, so maybe you can start." Wally said. "Oh one more. Is Uncle Barry around? Wouldn't it be a good idea to tell him here?"

"Uh... I don't think that's a good idea." Stephanie said. "Barry is still doing his duty as a Forensics Scientist, so I don't think calling him right now won't be perfect."

"Oh come on!" Wally said. "He could be back to his job in a flash."

"Oh now you're using that pun." Stephanie said before sighing. "If this is going to stop you from making more of those insufferable puns, I'll do it."

"I make no promises."

Stephanie grabbed his leg tight, causing him to groan in pain.

Wally groaned. "What the hell?"

Stephanie then made a few moves to return his dislocated bones into the original state. Bone crack noises can be heard. Wally crying out loud out of pain can also be heard. Right after that moment, he struggled to even gain his breath after that shocking move.

"That's dislocation for you." Stephanie said, smiling at him.

"Fuck, man!" Wally said. "Was it that bad?"

Stephanie slapped his arm. "Don't be a pussy! I had dislocated bones more than a hundred times before this."

"A hundred? Oh god." Wally said, face still looked intimidated. "Okay, how the hell can you be as scary as the bat and not so scary at the same time?"

"That's what good Batgirls do." Stephanie said. "Be charming, fun, and scary."

"I thought that was the Joker."

"I don't kill people every five seconds, Wallace Boy, neither do I set up charges and blow them up in a quarter of Gotham City." Stephanie said, frowning and cracking her fingers. "But I do break peoples bones if you really get into my nerves."

"Okay, sorry!" Wally said, throwing both of his arms in front of him. "I won't say it again. I swear!"

"Why are you acting like that?" Stephanie said. "I didn't mean to scare you. That pun was annoying, sure, but it didn't piss me off. I'm just doing my job. God, you're so easy to scare. No matter the bats got a hold of you."

"Christ. Does the Bat Team need to have scary peoples?"

"Scary, yes." Stephanie said. "Except Tim. He's a pussy. But he's my pussy."

"Your what?"

Stephanie widened her eyes on her words and closed her eyes in embarrassment. "Forget I said that."

"Stephanie..." Wally teased her.

"Bite this."

Stephanie gave him some sort of a baby toy for him to chew on for some reason. It was circle and it was made of very hard rubber: Flexible, but powerful as well.

"What's this?" Wally asked.

"I forgot to give you that, so put it in your mouth and bite it this time."

"What for?"

"This."

"Wait... AARRRGGGHHH!"

Stephanie relocated one of his bones again. "I forgot one right here. I told you to bite."

Wally's screams began to fade away and replaced with a very constant but rather painful breathing, like he was pushing out his own baby or something. As he gathered his breath, he let out his last thoughts out of his mouth. "I hate you."

"You'll be up in around less than a week."

"I got fast-healing."

"I calculated that with your fast-healing too." Stephanie said. "It's normally to take months for someone with broken bones to walk normally again. But with your super-healing, I guess it will take a week at most."

"You barely even know how fast I could heal."

"That's true, but there's nothing wrong to speculate." Stephanie said. "I'll call your uncle. Don't worry. He'll be here in a flash."

Stephanie winked. Wally scoffed.

A phone call to Barry Allen was made.

"Barry? It's me Stephanie." She began. "I need you here in the Titans Tower. No, I swear to god it wasn't about cleaning something. There's someone who wants to see you. I think I'm going to wait for about... five minutes? Okay. I'll see you later!"

"How was it?" Wally asked.

"He's coming." Stephanie said. "So just stay there and be nice."

Wally nodded.

##

Classic Barry. Despite his five minute promise, ten minutes has passed and he was totally freaking late on this one. Central City wasn't too far from here and Stephanie had absolutely no time waiting for another extra minute just to have Barry not to arrive on time.

The speedster finally arrived. He used his normal everyday outfit for the day, surprised that it didn't burn them on the way at the speed of sound.

"You're late." Stephanie said.

"I'm sorry." Barry scratched his head. "I got other things to do."

"Is that more important than seeing one of your family members injured?" Stephanie asked.

"Yeah... wait what?" Barry said. "Family member? In Titans Tower? Is it Iris? Is she okay? Why didn't you say so?"

"Oh, so if it was Iris who got injured, you'll be here in no time." Stephanie said, crossing her arms and shrugging. "Eh... I guess I should use that for further reference."

"Hey, don't use that as an excuse for calling me fast." Barry said.

"What are you going to do, punch me in the face?" Stephanie teased. "How come you're the Flash and you still be so goddamn late?"

"Are you done?" Barry said. "Can you just tell me who was in the tower?"

"Well, it's complicated." Stephanie said. "It's someone that you don't even know, or maybe will know, or maybe never will, that is not until he came to this universe."

Barry raised his eyebrows. "What are you talking about?"

"Do you have a nephew?"

"Nephew?" Barry said. "Uh... yeah I have lots of nephews. Which one you're talking about?"

"The one with West as the last name."

There was a display of shock on Barry's face for some odd reason. He sharpened his eyes towards Stephanie before he widened them all. What's with the sudden change of expression?

"Is he... where is he?"

"He's in the infirmary..."

Before Stephanie could even point out the direction, Barry launched himself up upstairs in super speed. She didn't even know if he had his costume on. Running in a speed like that should burn through his outfit.

"For fuck's sake." She muttered under her breath.


	5. The Flashes

Still using the Kid Flash helmet, Wally leaned on the chair and used the TV remote to switch channels. If there's one thing that he could say about this TV, at least it wasn't as horrible as his universe. There was a lot of things to get used to in this universe, and TV shows are of course one of them. At least they still have Walking Dead. He preferred the one with the little girl instead of the cop as the TV series, but it wasn't too bad still.

Then, someone came in with ultraspeed. He could feel it right there. Just moments before he could feel it more, the man he knew as the Flash, his idol and his mentor, popped up right on his face in the front door of the infirmary. It didn't take a while for the Flash to actually recognize him... wait... he _recognized_ him.

"Wally?"

Wally widened his eyes. How could the Barry Allen from this universe knew exactly who he is? How come he know things that he shouldn't have?

"Uncle Barry?" Wally replied.

That was the first thing that came to his mind. The other thing, he really looked exactly like his universe's Barry Allen, still with the blonde hair and everything like that.

Wally stood up from his bed and walked towards him, even though he had to limp himself thanks to the insanely hurt treatment of the dislocated bones. Unfortunately, Wally didn't hold for long and he fell down, groaning. Barry immediately rushed towards him in super speed just as he was about to fall down. The damage leaping from one universe after another is just insane.

"Whoa! Slow down, buddy." Barry said, still holding him on his chest preventing him to fall down. "You're going to need some time."

"What's going on with me?" Wally asked. "How do you know it's me?"

"I'll explain later." Barry lifted his leg up and put him back to the hospital bed. "But for now, you need to go to bed and take a rest. Trust me when I say that it's going to hurt real bad if you didn't."

Wally did as he was told and kept quiet for about a few seconds. Barry took a chair and sat right beside him.

"Oh, Wally." Barry began. "Artemis talked so much about you."

There was a shock on Wally's face as he widened his eyes in disbelief. "Wait, you... you knew her?"

"I came from your universe." Barry said. "I came here from 2018 in your time."

Wally widened his mouth. What in the name of god is going on around here? What in the name of god did he do in order to gain this torment? Millions of questions began to pop up in his head. The number one priority second to 'Is Artemis okay?' is the one that he's going to ask.

"Did we... did we win?" He asked.

Barry smiled and tapped on his shoulder. "Yes, Wally. We won. All thanks to you."

Wally smiled, cried tears of joy and laughed in satisfaction. "Oh my god and I thought that we lost it. I swear. But..." His face went bitter. "But I died, didn't I?"

"I thought you did." Barry said. "It's too hard to explain but..."

"Explain everything."

Right outside the infirmary, Stephanie crossed her hands as she leaned on the doorframe. Both of them didn't even notice that she came in there so fast. She didn't pant or have consistent breath just as someone after running. She's Batgirl. She could handle a few run. The worst part is that neither of them could see her coming. Perhaps all the Batman family members had the tendency to suddenly disappear and reappear at any moment.

"Explain everything right now."

##

Headaches. More headaches. What in the name of god is going on? How in the seven gates of hell that they could have two speedsters travelling in light speed towards their universe? Stephanie had that question in hand. In today's Ripley's Believe it or Not...

"So both of you actually came from the same universe." Stephanie said. "I thought you said that you got hit by lightning."

"Yeah, that part is true." Barry said. "But then I found out that this universe's Barry Allen actually died from that lightning. So I sort of replaced him and make sure that his real corpse were never found. I took his place on this universe right here, but I swear to god I didn't kill him."

"Yeah sure you didn't." Stephanie said.

"No really, I didn't." Barry said.

"Whatever." Stephanie said. "Now explain to me how the hell can both of you end up at the same universe as here."

"The Reach's Energy." Barry said. "That energy, the one that disturbs the Earth's magnetic force, that is more than just any energy."

"What is that?"

"It's a mass effect field."

"A what?"

"A mass effect field." Barry said. "When you got hit by one of these energy beams, it will create a mass effect field around your body, making your weight drop significantly, multiplied by the Mass Effect Constant."

"Wait, so what happens if your weight is lower?"

"For us speedsters, we get faster. For women like you, maybe it's an entirely different thing." Barry said as Stephanie groaned. "The lower your weight is, the faster you go, at least that's how it should've worked anyway until you put Einstein into the equation."

"How fast can you go with that constant?"

"Enough to go beyond the speed of light."

"Beyond?" Stephanie said. "What happens if you go beyond the speed of light?"

"Now that's one excellent question." Barry said. "Well, to put it simply, you tear a portal and enter the multiverse realm."

"The... multiverse?"

"Yup." Barry said. "I honestly have no idea what's going on in that realm or how it looked, mostly because it was all black. All I see is that the more I run, my particles become more messed up, but I can't stop, so I keep running. I don't know where it's going to bring me. I don't care if it's going to break me or tear me up to pieces. I just keep running. That's what I do best even if it's dark. Then I found out that I blasted all the way here."

"Yeah, same thing to me." Wally said. "I sort of glitched out, but I keep running. It was flashy lights at first, like that scene from 2001, then it was total black and I propelled all the way here."

"Hey, that's like one of my favorites." Stephanie said.

"Me too!" Wally said. "Wait, is this the same movie that has the floating baby in space?"

"Same movie."

"Awesome!" Wally said.

Barry sighed. "Floating babies aside, I recreated the same Reach energy and put myself in there just to find out. You didn't die, you just disappeared. You weren't disintegrated too. You were just... gone. So I put myself on that energy to find out where you went, and after travelling through that black realm of multiverse, here we are."

"How long did you travel in that dark space?" Stephanie said.

"Mine is around an hour." Barry said. "Thankfully my legs surprisingly didn't hurt from running that fast, and I couldn't stop. So I got bored and count my time in."

"Really?" Wally said. "I swear to god it's longer than that, and yes I counted my time too. It goes more than two hours."

"Hm..." Barry scratched his chin. "Let's just say that both of us still don't know the physics of this mess."

"Questions... questions..." Stephanie rubbed her temples as she closed her eyes, groaning. "God this multiverse thing confuses the hell out of me. How does this even work? When you tear up to one universe, did you enter another universe or did you stay on yours? What happens with time when you're in the speed of light?"

"You're not the only one with questions." Barry said. "Now Wally, when you come here, I suggest you not to use your super speed for a bit. Your power is useless by then and the Reach's energy will basically mess up with your body's molecular structures. Even with fast healing, you're not going to heal properly. The Reach's Energy will dissipate in about... a week."

"A week?" Wally said. "So I'm going to spend my time here in this hospital bed?"

"The good news is that you can still walk and run as normal as any human beings would." Barry said. "But go five times faster than Usain Bolt and you'll experience the worst bone-relocation process in the history."

"Yeah, thanks for that Stephanie." Wally said, groaning and crossing his arms, looking very irritated.

"No problem!" Stephanie said, giving a thumbs up. Even with that face, she still looked very scary.

The Titans were apparently done on their missions as Robin contacted Wally through his Titans Watch.

"KF." Robin said. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Robin." KF said. "I'm with The Flash in the infirmary. We're still trying to find out how can I leap through universes."

"Barry's there?" Robin said. "Oh good. I'm going to ask some questions. Can you actually travel at the speed of light?"

"No. We're not that fast." Wally said. "That is unless if we use a certain energy from an alien. Look, it's quite complicating to explain through here. I'll tell you the details once you get into the infirmary."

"Good." Robin said. "How's your leg?"

"Well, Barry said that it's going to take a week to recover." KF said. "How's the mission?"

"They're pretty tough, but nothing too serious." Robin said. "I'm surprised that we can still hold up. They're going to Belle Rave. Don't worry about them."

"I bet you all kicked a lot of asses." KF said. "I wish I could be there."

"You'll get your chance." Robin said. "But for now, get some rest. I'll be there shortly."

##

Not all the Titans joined themselves to the infirmary. Only Damian, Tim, Raven, and Stephanie are present. Wally and Barry finished up their explanations on what's going on in the grand scheme of things. Once they did, these Titans are definitely going to give their opinions on what's going on.

"Hm... interesting." Damian said. "I'm not even sure where to begin, or where should I begin."

Tim shared his opinions as well. "I think we should research more on this matter before we dive into conclusions. Maybe all of this can be explained scientifically."

"He's probably right." Raven suddenly replied. "If this Reach technology came at your universe in 2016, then it would probably make sense for us to speculate how it works."

"Raven, how come you not realize Barry came in from another universe?" Damian said.

"You never asked." Barry replied. "Either that or my thoughts were too fast to read for both of you telepaths."

His comment was directed to Megan, who wasn't even in the room, and Raven. She was not amused. "I'm an empath."

"Whatever, almost the same thing right?" Barry said. "It's not like you're going to spend your time getting inside my head anyway, nor that you ever want to."

"Oh trust me. Don't get to his head." Wally crossed his hands and grinned. "I know the kind of sick twisted mind that uncle Barry had when he was a child."

"What? I'm just collecting Pokémon stickers and Barbie dolls. Don't tell me I had issues." Barry said.

"You had issues." Raven said, still with that monotonous voice.

Barry paused for a bit before scoffing. "Wally, there's a little bit of problem if we want to go back. The only way for us to go back is if we call them right here."

"No." Wally said. "If there's one thing that I wanted the least, it's another war. We've had enough with the entire Justice League found guilty by the Intergalactic Space Judges. If that same thing is going to happen again right here in this world, I'm going to make sure that those aliens pay."

"Intergalactic Space Judges?" Stephanie asked.

"Really long story." Wally said. "I couldn't even remember the details."

"So you're going to stay here?" Barry said. "I'm not saying you should go back, but I'm just asking. What do you think?"

"No. I'm staying here." Wally said. "I don't want to, but I should. My world had lots of superheroes and they have troubles fighting the Reach alone. This world had only the Titans and a few of the Justice League members. They're not going to hold up against something that powerful. I'm going to rest, and by the time I'm fully healed, I'm going to train myself. I'm still slower than you and Bart, so my first job is to find a way to go faster."

Damian smiled. He went right near Wally and tapped right into his shoulders. "You did the right thing. You may be new to the Titans, but you had the spirit."

"I couldn't be more proud, Wallace." Barry said.

Barry's phone vibrated inside his jacket. The fact that the phone was able to made it through the speed of sound was quite surprising.

"My boss is calling." Barry said. "I need to go."

"Alright." Damian said. "See you soon, Barry."

Barry nodded before travelling in the speed of sound. The energy of his speed always caused one hell of an inconvenient wind power that basically ruined everything around his environment, including almost blowing up towards Raven's cloak.

Stephanie groaned as her hair was blown up into the back thanks to the kinetic energy of Barry's speed force. "It's the 50s Ferrari commercials again."

"Should've worn skirts next time. Also you're not referencing it right." Raven said.

"I don't even watch Ferrari commercials." Stephanie said. "You know what, I think I'm going to the lounge. I'm going to clear my head."

Stephanie left.

"So what are we going to do next?" Wally asked.

"Well, you need to do as you said before: Training." Damian said. "All of us too. We're going to need a whole lot more training to face this alien threat just in case it ever comes out."

"What makes you think that they will?" Tim asked.

"If the Reach's Energy Beam pointed Wally all the way here, then the Reach is coming, and there's going to be war."

"War?" Tim said. "Like the Brotherhood?"

"The Brotherhood?" Wally asked. "Who was the Brotherhood? What did they do?"

Damian closed his eyes. He glanced back at the window, trying as hard as possible to grasp peace on this conversation, but he couldn't. Raven and Tim noticed what he's going to say in a few words, and they weren't even sure if he should say that. He turned around to reveal a very saddened, damage face.

"Tim, Raven," He began. "I need a moment, please."

Tim and Raven left the room. There was nothing but sadness in the next few words that Damian was about to say. This experience, all the nineteen years he endured including the ones with the Bat Team, are nothing but pain and sorrow.

"The closest thing that came to war during our times as the Titans was the Brotherhood of Evil." Damian said. "We're not prepared for them. They're prepared for us, and they took us down, physically and mentally. All this time I've been with the Titans and I've seen nothing but innocent peoples dying because of these sick psychopaths."

"How many?"

"Thousands." Damian said. "I still don't know what caused Brother Blood to do such thing. I still don't know why he would do all of that just to take us down. When he crossed that line and threatened the Titans, the peoples I care about, I had no choice. I crossed my own line, the line that I thought I would never cross."

Wally widened his eyes. "What did you do?"

"I... killed him."


	6. Imperfection

Imperfection  
#Part 3#

Damian's eyes began to fill with tears. "I can't risk another thousand lives just for his own."

"But... but you're a hero!" Wally said. "You're not supposed to kill!"

"I know." Damian said. "That doesn't mean that I want to kill everyone I fought. I know which of the peoples that I deem necessary to be sentenced with such judgment. Peoples like the Joker, Ra's Al Ghul, General Zod, Brother Blood, I can't let them all live because their only purpose and what they can only do is to destroy this world and the peoples inside. You know what they have in common? They all have power and a very strong will. They can't be destroyed. General Zod is about as strong as Superman and Superboy. There's nothing that could stop him, so Superboy killed him, his own father, just to protect us. I'm not going to let millions die because of them, and neither is Superboy."

"You killed the Joker?" Wally said.

"I didn't. My father did." Damian said. "Ever since then, he told the Batman team to stop for a solid five years. He stopped being the Batman. It pained him to do something like that while no one protects the city. He stayed on his room, never went out. He gets crazier and crazier every single time I came there to help. He couldn't stop thinking about that scary grin on his face. It kept haunting him to this day, in his sleep, at his work, everywhere. At that point, Joker had blown up an entire region of city. Thousands of peoples died just because of that fucking clown. Detective Essen, Katherine, Jack, Beryl, Cassandra,"

Damian shed a tear just on the mention of that one name. He sobbed, wiping the tears out of his cheeks. "I can't let the same thing happen to the Titans."

"I'm sorry." Wally glanced down. "We lost our shares of people too. Jason, my universe Jason, Tula, Ted Kord, but we never chose to kill, even if they have killed those we loved the most."

"Kord is still alive here, but I get what you're saying and you're right." Damian said. "But the harsh truth is that when we're at war, we're not playing heroes anymore. When we take another person's life, we're just as bad as them. But at one part to the other, they're right. There's no way to deal with the kind of peoples like Brother Blood. He has dedicated his entire life destroying us and we don't even know why. He just wants to, and we all fell for it. He won. I killed him and he won over me."

"It must have been really hard." Wally said. "Look, I'm not on board on superheroes killing peoples. You didn't kill any of the peoples you took down last time, did you?"

"No." Damian said. "Snart, Rory, and their friends might cause some problems, but they're still not as big as the Brotherhood or the Joker or even Zod. I helped the police to take them down. I did fair justice for them. It's not war. It's just fighting crime, and I can't tolerate killing when fighting crime."

"But when it's war, it's different?"

"Yes." Damian said. "When it's war, it's either killed or be killed. The soldiers in World War II sacrificed their lives for this very reason, and millions died. No one is ultimately right on that one. The only thing that we can do is if we defend ourselves and stood up for what's right, or at least what we believed is right. Brother Blood is going to continue murder thousands and thousands of peoples if I even keep that maniac alive."

"How did you feel when you killed him?"

"I felt horrible." Damian said. "I felt guilty. I felt like the world is crumbling before me. I felt like there's no other way to live other than death. I felt that I should've killed myself. I probably still feel it even to this day."

"Oh god." Wally said. "So did Bruce ever come back?"

"My father came back as the Batman when General Zod's army came to attack Earth. By that time, I already assembled the Titans and Superman had basically replaced him for the most part. I never give up on hope. I keep doing my work as Robin, even if he told me to stop. I kept eyes on peoples with incredible talents and I trained them. Raven, Starfire, Beast Boy, Cyborg, and me, the original team. We fought them and we won, but we don't know what to do with Zod."

"The red sun." Wally said. "It's an atmosphere enough to weaken him."

"We didn't know about that yet." Damian said. "By the time we found it, which we haven't, he's already dead. Superboy killed him. I tried to argue, but he has a point. There's no way for any of us humans to imprison him. He has super strength. He has no weakness. It took us the entire team and Justice League to take him down. His sole purpose on coming to Earth is to make a new Krypton by killing the billions of peoples on this Earth. If he's alive, he's going to continue doing that."

"So you're saying that you can kill, but only when it's absolutely necessary?" Wally said. "Look, I'm not sure man. I don't even know if what you're doing is the right choice."

"What I did had never been the right choice, especially all the kills that we did." Damian said. "It's always one bad decision after another. The only thing that kept us going and alive all this time is luck. We're so lucky that we're able to get through all of those problems without a hitch. We're so lucky that even after that kill, the world still views us as heroes. We're so lucky that most of us manage to live."

"Most?"

"During the Brotherhood assault, one of the Titans died." Damian said. "Her name is Tara Markov... Terra. She has the power to control the Earth. She was one of Garfield's closest friends and could've been more than just friends. He admitted to me that he loved her so much but couldn't bring himself to tell her. By the time he wanted to, it was too late."

"Jesus." Wally said. "What happened next?"

"She joined the Brotherhood."

"What?"

"Brother Blood had noticed her resistance and disagreements with the team. So he decided to exploit it." Damian revealed. "It was probably because we didn't treat her well. It was probably because I just shout at her too much. I felt guilty on that part. If it wasn't for me..."

"Damian, relax." Wally said. "How did she die?"

"Brother Blood shot her." Damian revealed. "You know what's the most tragic part is? We won."

"You won?" Wally said. "How?"

"She didn't quit the Titans because of her will. I asked her to."

"You what?"

"I told her that Brother Blood trusted her so much that he might not have any doubts on her loyalty." Damian said. "By that time, he had killed hundreds of peoples and injured many of the Titans. The only way for me to win against him was to send her in, and we won. She is able to thwart his entire plan and we managed to gain the upper hand at the last minute, but she died because of that."

"I can't imagine how pissed Garfield is."

"He's really angry." Damian said. "You honestly can't imagine him angry. His eyes turned dark and yellow. His teeth was sharp. He grew tons of fur on his skin, and he turned. He turned into the beast that I have never seen in my entire life. He was huge, about five meters tall. He hit me so many times and he slashed me out with his claws. Yes, his claws. Raven stopped him from going any further. In the end, he got injected with a tranquilizer and Raven had to guard him inside his room before something worse happens. I get five broken ribs, bleeding, and massive amounts of blood loss. And you know what? I deserved all of that."

"Holy shit." Wally said. "How is he now?"

"He's just as when you saw him during the introductions." Damian said. "We're mostly doing alright for now. I don't know what Raven told him, but it must have been something because even though he will never apologize for what he did to me, he accepted my apology. Somehow, I still feel that he still felt pained by all of that, you know?"

"He will always be." Wally said. "It's his first love and you took her away from him."

"I've tried so many times to apologize to him." Damian said. "We've been friends since Elementary School, so you can imagine how much betrayed he felt when I did that to him. He never pissed me off. He always cheered me up. And what did I do to him? I stabbed him in the back."

"But it was all just so that you can save peoples life, right?" Wally asked.

"Yeah." Damian said. "It's hard being a team leader. It's like every decision I made is always the wrong one."

"And yet peoples are still standing up for you." Wally said. "Don't lose faith, Damian. These peoples, despite how much you hurt them, they still stood up for you, because they believe you can lead them to save the world from god knows what. Don't lose hope. Don't ever lose her."

Damian glanced at him with surprise.

"You know who I meant." Wally said.

Damian scoffed, although very bitterly. "I have blood in my hands."

"Soldiers have blood in their hands too." Wally said. "They never wanted to do any of that. They never wanted to kill the terrorists. They never wanted to have blood in their hands, but if they don't, the enemies are going to hurt or even kill more and more peoples that are powerless against them. I can see that in you. You still have a bit of a trauma and I get it. At least you're aware of it. At least you feel guilty about it, and at least you promised that you won't do that ever again."

"Have I?" Damian said. "What if the situation calls for it and I have to do it? What if the Reach came in to attack us? Will there be just usual crime-fighting, or will there be war?"

Wally stumbled back. That's a very good question. "I don't know. But we should never lose hope for anything. I'm hoping that I could see her again, you know? Maybe in a different timeline. Maybe in a different universe. Maybe there are some changes. I don't care. I just want to see her face. But then your universe had to deal with the Reach too. I can't let that happen either."

"I understand." Damian said. "I'm sorry I had to share it. It's the truth. We've been through so many things that the line of good, evil, hero and villain, is very blurred right now."

"Don't blame yourself." Wally said. "You did what you could. It may be the right choice, may be the wrong one, but it's all that you could do to save the world."

Damian smiled. "I never know if I'm going to smile again, seeing peoples slaughtered one by one. The Reach coming to Earth is going to be my new nightmare."

"By the time they come, we need to be ready." Wally said. "I'll do anything to help."

"Thanks, Wally." Damian smiled at him before leaving the infirmary.

It really left quite the big impression. None of the members of the Team at his universe had ever experienced such trauma as killing. Damian had experienced that. He wondered what happened to the grumpy old Superboy that killed him.

"Damian," Wally called. Damian turned his head on to look at him. "How about Superboy? Does he feel guilty about it?"

Damian frowned. "He killed his own father. Need I say more?"

Wally shut his mouth up on those words.


	7. Multiverse

Multiverse  
#Part 1#

The idea of ripping through the fabric of time and space by travelling beyond the speed of light has definitely caught the interest of many including the speedster himself. He was the one who experienced it close hand. He just wanted to know exactly how something like that actually worked.

Jaime, Tim, Damian, and Wally went into NASA to find Theodore Kord who was assisting in more research of Interstellar Travels. While the four were walking on the hallway towards the main engine room, they had some brief chatting. There weren't a lot of peoples in the NASA base, and Damian's attachment to Wayne Enterprises and Titans funding allowed him to free roam around the base. Ever since the Brotherhood of Evil incident, perhaps the US Government has approved the Titans of their methods to save the world.

"So how are you and Ted?" Damian asked to Jaime.

"We're doing great." Jaime said. "I went to him for training. He knew how to control and communicate with the scarab, so he knew what to do with it."

"It's strange." Tim said. "It's like you're having some sort of a controlled multiple personality disorder. How was the scarab like?"

Jaime put a hand near his ear. The scarab was connected through his nervous systems. So he is able to know what the scarab thought on his head before telling anyone about it. Wally always find that quite creepy especially if the scarab somehow found a way to override his orders and began to kill people.

"It says hi." Jaime said. "And he also warns you to not to talk about him while he's around."

"Oh sorry for caring, you little snot."

As Wally said that, Jaime belched. His right hand waved uncontrollably and pointed right towards Wally. His right hand was suddenly covered with a blue metal gauntlet resembling a sonic gun. Wally's heart skipped a beat just right where it was about to charge up.

"Whoa, relax!" Wally said. "I was joking!"

Jaime tried his hardest to grab his right hand and control that thing. "Stop! Please! He's just joking!"

The armor retracted back to its original position. Wally's breath turned from panicked breath to a very constant one.

"Jesus Christ." Wally said. "You scared the shit out of me."

"Sorry." Jaime said. "You don't want to do that in front of the thing."

"God." Wally said. "How the hell are you supposed to control the thing?"

"Well, we had our shares of fights before." Jaime said. "The thing just couldn't shut up sometimes."

"I thought you know better not to do that, Wally." Damian said. "He's from your universe too, right?"

"Yeah, but he's... friendlier." Wally said. "And at least Jaime could control it."

"Well, whatever the scarab does is my responsibility too." Jaime said.

"We all need to be responsible." Damian said. "If what Wally said is right, then that scarab is one of Reach's main components for their victory. If the Reach is coming at any moment, we're going to need something to prevent it from happening."

"Also," Wally continued. "The only reason you're able to gain independence from the scarab is that it was separated from the Reach's database. So when the Reach comes, we're not sure if you're going to be in our side or not."

Jaime frowned. "If the Reach does come, I'm not going to let them to control the scarab. In a way, he's a part of me now, so I have to take care of him as much as I take care of myself."

"That's the spirit." Wally said. "We're going to need it if we're going to kick some serious alien butt."

"We're here."

Damian introduced them into the meeting room. Kord was only reading a bunch of files working on their formulas and equations on how to figure out proper life support for the spaceship. And he couldn't believe it himself: Teddy Kord was just as he looked like on his universe, probably slightly younger but he still looks very great.

"Ah good evening, Titans, well some of them at least." Kord said. "Jaime, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine, thank you Ted." Jaime said, shaking his hands.

"Damian, how's your dad?"

"He's doing fine." Damian said. "Managing the company was quite the hassle, but as long as he's not on the outfit, he's good."

"That's great." Ted said. "Hey, Timmy."

"It's nice to meet you again, Mr. Kord."

"Ted, please." Ted raised his arms towards Wally, offering his hand. "You must be new to the team. I'm Ted Kord."

Wally paused for a bit. There was a look of shock on his face like he was literally seeing a dead person coming back to life. Perhaps there was a mention on his name to the list of peoples that had died on his universe.

"Um... hello?" Ted called. "Is he alright?"

Wally snapped back to reality and greeted him. "Wally West. I'm sorry. I just... being a speedster can hurt your head sometimes."

"You're a speedster?" Ted said. "Faster than the Flash?"

"Not exactly, but still pretty fast." Wally commented.

"Incredible." Ted said. "Have you experienced it?"

"Experienced what?"

"Lightspeed?"

Wally sighed. "That's why we're here. We want to talk about something bigger than lightspeed."

"What is it?"

"Universe Leap."

As Damian uttered those words, Ted froze still in place before making a questioned face. "Universe Leap?"

"Wally here didn't just come from a neighborhood in El Paso or something." Jaime said. "He's out of this world... literally."

"Oh." Ted said. "You're suggesting that he came from another universe."

"That's right." Damian said. "I didn't believe it at first, but I know when peoples lie and hide something, mostly thanks to Megan, and Wally is not hiding something there."

"So somewhere out there, there's another universe with many different twists and variables?" Ted asked.

"Very different." Wally said. "But not too different."

"Oh my god." Ted grabbed his head, scoffing and laughing in joy. "This is brilliant! This is incredible! But... how are you able to undertake such journey?"

"Travelling beyond the speed of light." Wally said. "In my universe in the year 2016, there was an alien invasion. This alien, the Reach, has made devices that disturbed the Earth's gravitational pull or something. I don't know. I got hit by one of these devices and just suddenly I dissipate. I don't know where I went. I'm just... gone. I remembered running really fast. There was too much light, and then there was darkness for about two hours before I found myself on this universe."

"But... that's impossible." Ted said. "It's physically impossible for you to go beyond the speed of light. Even if you do manage to get to the exact amount of the speed of light, time stops and nothing happens. Say if you could, then time reverses and your mass is beyond infinite. So it is absolutely unlikely that we're going to see that kind of speedsters."

"This is the same universe where two aliens from Krypton and a Tamaranean alien become superheroes." Tim said. "I'll take my chances on multiverse leap anytime."

"Multiverse leap... beyond the speed of light... it's just unbelievable." Ted said. "Milky Way is about billions of light years. By that speed, you should've reached any part of that realm, but considering that our mass is infinite beyond the speed of light, then maybe it will cause disturbance to spacetime and it will tear up a portal through that universe realm. The big question is how can someone achieve such speed? Please sit down. We need to discuss this even further."

Ted took his seat, but the four Titans froze at the sight of someone right behind him. They widened their eyes to the sight of one sorcerer that just tore up a portal from the Titans Tower into here in a matter of seconds.

"Uh... boys?" Ted turned around to see that Raven was standing right beside him, wearing a purple hoodie and jeans. The moment he got his eyes on her, he jumped and shrieked.

"I want to join." Raven said. "May I?"

"No offense, Raven, but I thought you were onto the magic stuff." Damian said.

"I've studied too much magic on my childhood." Raven said. "A slice of real science always caught my eyes especially if this whole multiverse thing can be explained scientifically."

"So you're suggesting that you can access the multiverse through the power of magic?" Ted asked.

"No." Raven said. "A universe consists of five different dimensions. My magic only traverse and controls those dimensions and not through the fabric of time and space, even then I can only control the third. I'm shocked that science are able to overcome magic. Not even magic can travel beyond those five secluded dimensions, not even the fifth one."

"You can make wormholes and portals out of nowhere, Raven." Damian said.

"Even my portals have their own limits." Raven said. "Anyway, can we just move on to the theories please? Let's face it. If the Reach didn't come, we still would only have speculations."

"Okay." Ted said. "I'd be happy if you join, but please do me a favor not to jump at me for once."

"I make no promises."

Raven took a seat right across the boys while Kord began the meeting.

"Now are you planning to keep this a secret?" Ted Kord

"The Titans knew. Barry knew. We're probably going to tell Batman and Superman, but those are it. We don't want anyone else." Damian said. "We're just here to know your input."

"Okay."

##

Stephanie always find a lot of pleasant conversation with Starfire. She spent a lot of time with her talking about mostly girly stuff. Usually Stephanie was uncomfortable talking about those stuff, the stuff that exposes most of her feminine side, but she didn't care. She's still a female after all. She deserved to have a little bit of feminism inside.

"Diner Time!" Starfire loudly announced with that squeaky, cute anime voice of her. Oh my god. Seriously. She really wanted to just come in and squeeze her cheeks she's that adorable. No wonder why Damian really wanted her.

"I have prepared you all a French Toast, Richard's recipe." Starfire said. "I am very pleased if you would have some time to taste it and tell me what you think."

Besides Stephanie are Victor and Garfield. They're very fun to hang around with. Not to mention that Steph had known Garfield for years as being one of Damian's most responsible babysitter does introduce her to his well-known friends. Both are using their civilian outfits, like most of the Titans at the tower.

"French Toast!" Victor shouted. "Give me! Give me!"

"Me too!" Stephanie said. "I'm quite hungry for some."

"Do you want a taste, Beast Boy?"

"I'm a vegan, Star." Garfield said. "I don't eat eggs."

"I am sorry." Starfire said. "I have forgotten that you are a vegan. I was wondering how does it feel devouring one of your kind."

Victor, Stephanie, and Garfield glanced at the alien weird.

"I wish I would not come into such circumstances." Starfire said, smiling awkwardly while waving her hands in embarrassment.

Garfield sighed. "Thank god. I really thought you were a zombie for once."

"Zombie?" Starfire asked. "Are you referring to those man-eating creatures?"

"Yeah, that's how you'll feel eating your own." Garfield crossed his hands on the back of his head, smiling smugly towards her.

"Eww!" Starfire said, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "I _really_ do not wish to come into those circumstances."

"Well, what can you say Star. Gar is a little bit paranoid." Stephanie said. She turned her attention towards Garfield, who instead of French Toast, only given vegetarian sandwich. "So you're saying that you can turn into tigers, dogs and other carnivorous animals, but you still don't eat meat."

"Hey, dogs eat vegetables too sometimes!" Garfield said. "Besides, I don't turn into a tiger often. I'm more used to taking animal traits. You know like cheetah speed, rhino shells, horse legs..."

Stephanie tried to hold her laughter, but she just couldn't let it out of her system and laughed out loud of that bizarre imagination she had.

"What's so funny?" Garfield asked.

"Nothing." Stephanie said. "I'm just... every time I want to get the image of you running with horse legs, I can only think of you running with donkey legs."

Soon enough, Victor followed her laughter. Vic's laughter were always the loudest. When Stephanie made that statement, he exploded in laughter. He even bothered to just slap Gar out of the way. Even Starfire made a soft giggle under her breath.

"Real funny, guys." Garfield said.

"Just try to pick up animal traits that make you look cool." Stephanie said. "Cheetah speed and rhino shells might be awesome, but horse legs? Really? Try something cooler like tiger claws or maybe giant wings."

"I did giant wings so many times." Garfield said. "I don't do tiger claws because I don't kill. That's why I thought rhino shells were always the best. They punch peoples hard."

"Oh no! The big man has spoken!" Stephanie said. "Can you make spider webs too?"

Garfield formed some sort of a metal gesture towards a root beer. Soon enough, a sling of spider web began to come out of his hand. The spider web hit the root beer. He pulled the root beer using the web towards him and catch it in quite the interesting fashion.

He opened the root beer and gave it a drink just through that bottle. "You were saying?"

"Um… nothing." Stephanie said, putting the most awkward face of all.

"Alright then." Garfield stood up from the table. "I'm going out. I got something to do."

"Does this have anything to do with Raven?" Stephanie teased.

"Yeah, Beasty." Victor said. "Does this have anything to do with Raven?"

Garfield turned around, glancing at the two weird, three in fact as Starfire also gave her comments.

"I have noticed you two lately." Starfire said. "You have been very close."

"Well, think anything you like, but there's nothing big between us... yet." Garfield added before he left the room.

The three glanced at each other back and forth before stopping and trying to make sure they got his message. Beast Boy was trying to get close to Raven? Out of all the female chicks that he wanted to hang out with... Terra, she could understand, but Raven?

"Is there something happening between Beast Boy and Raven?" Starfire asked. "I am hoping that it is not bothering them."

"They're not just bothering each other, Star." The Cyborg said. "They're close... strangely close. I don't know how they do that."

"Just remember when Beast Boy got crazy insane beast mode to Damian, the one who stopped him was Raven." Stephanie said. "You know who else was guarding Beast Boy after that little incident? Raven. When he got out of that room, it's totally crazy. One second, he's like going into super killer beast mode. Then the other, he apologized Damian. He just sacrificed his about-to-be girlfriend without his knowledge and he apologized him for that. I honestly don't know what did Raven say but it has to be something."

"Yeah." Cyborg said.

"The point is they're not the kind of peoples that I expect to get close." Stephanie said. "Before Terra, all they do is just fight at each other. And I'm just standing on the background saying just kiss already."

"It is no good thinking of forcing someone into a physical intimate relationship." Starfire said.

"Oh really?" Stephanie said. "So how are you and Damian already? I bet you never sleep with the guy."

"Damian is not that kind of person!" Starfire said, blushing. "He would never engage me in such activities!"

"Doesn't mean he doesn't want to. Maybe you also wanted it too." Stephanie said. "Come on, Star. I knew you very well to know how your little heart works. If you want to do it with him, just do it already. He won't fight. In fact, he'll probably enjoy it."

"Are you sure?" Starfire said. "Don't you think he will be angry about it?"


	8. Time Travel

Multiverse  
#Part 2#

"Star, he's a guy. If a guy loves someone, he'll love her even more if she just lunge at him naked. And guess what, he really loves you very much!" Stephanie said. "I swear to god he couldn't stop talking about you. Even if he tries to talk about the mission, he'll talk about how he'll protect you and just kick anyone who tries to get near you even if it was his friend and he's trying to flirt with you. He's madly in love with you. Of course he's going to do that with you!"

"You know girls, I guess I'm going to let you talk about this." Cyborg said. "I'll try to find Gar and make sure he doesn't break anything." He left the room.

"Bye Cyborg." Stephanie said, with Starfire shortly followed her farewell words.

"I do not think that I am ready for that." Starfire said.

"You've been together for a week." Stephanie said. "Your relationship is not going to be meaningful if you're too afraid to get out of the comfort zone."

"I prefer to stay in this comfort zone as long as I could." Star said.

"Then what's the point of a relationship with him?" Stephanie said. "Damian is one hell of an unpredictable guy. He can have like billions of plans on his mind even before a mission start to crush his enemies. When he was ten, he would even take steps to crush his friends just for the mission to be successful. Trust me, he's anything but comfort, and you still wanted to be with him."

"He has been very kind to me." Starfire said. "He is never mean to me. He never treats me like how he treats others. He always protect me. He always defend me. He takes care of me when other peoples do not accept my existence."

"Then go for it." Stephanie said. "He loves you, and he'll love you even more if you would just take that risk."

Starfire sighed. There was a very bitter blush and a frown on her face.

"That is if you ready." Stephanie said. "You have to, but it doesn't have to be now."

"I am not sure if I should do such activities." Starfire said. "I have told you how my slavers treated me before."

"Oh..." Stephanie said. "I'm sorry, Star. I forgot. Look, I assure you. Being in love with someone and having a more intimate relationship with the one you love is the most wonderful thing ever. Trust me on this, okay? I've been through that."

Stephanie smiled. That charming smile she had really couldn't make Starfire to just hold for a few minutes.

"I will try." Starfire said, smiling.

##

"I'm a physicist. I may be a realist but I'm definitely open with time travel theories." Ted said. "First of all, I want you to understand about the Grandfather Paradox."

"The Grandfather Paradox?" Wally asked.

"Basically," Raven said. "If you travel back in time to kill your grandfather, your grandfather will not die because you killed your grandfather and therefore you won't exist to travel back in time to kill your grandfather. That's a real scientific observation on time travel."

"That's really cool." Wally said.

"The rules of time needs to stay away from that paradox." Ted said. "Now the research that I did for time travel are mostly theoretical, but I have made theories on the rules of Time. There are four possible rules of how time travel works: The Definite Past, Predestination, Instant Alteration, and Universe Fabrication."

"What's the Definite Past?" Damian asked.

"Basically you can travel back to the past, but you can't change anything." Ted said. "Say you travel back in time to kill Hitler or something at a specific period of time right before his actual death. There's always going to be something to prevent you. Even if you are successful, either Hitler will magically stay alive for the next few years until his actual death or you will simply die therefore no one will actually kill him. It's basically magic at one point or the other."

"How about Predestination?" Damian said.

"Predestination is when you travel back in time, but you actually find out that you have." Ted said. "It's like if all this time, Ray Palmer was me from the future. That's how we got in common with a lot of things, but you're not going to believe that, won't you?"

"I don't know. You two are like the same person." Wally said. "That might be a stupid theory, but I might buy it."

"Anyway, the next is Instant Alteration AKA Back to the Future rule." Ted said. "Basically, you travel back into the past only to find out that if you change a certain past, you will feel the change instantly. For example, if you go back in time to prevent the murder of Bruce Wayne's parents, you probably won't exist to have your training."

"And the final one?" Damian asked.

"The final one is the simplest and less confusing in the grand scheme of things." Ted said. "If you go back to change time, you basically will create a new timeline in which the peoples that travelled back in time will also be the cause of factor in that time, while your future will not be affected by any means."

"That's what I have explained before." Raven said. "If you send someone to go back in time to change something, they'll basically create a new timeline that will not affect ours. You just send them simply back in time. Nothing on your time will change."

"If this infinite realm of multiverse does exist, I guess this method might be the possible explanation."

Ted took something out of his pocket. It was a dice.

"If I throw this dice right now," He threw the said dice into the table.

The dice rolled for a few seconds and landed with five dots on the top.

"I'm instantly creating six different universes, probably more." Ted said. "We're in a universe where the dice landed on five. There might be a universe where the dice landed on one, two, three, four, six, or the dice may have fallen into the table, or Raven could've taken the dice. There's a universe where the dice might have fallen right at this part of the table, or this part of the table. We're basically just living in an infinite railroad full of infinite possibilities, so infinite that even a change of one word will create an entirely new universe."

"Wow." Wally said. "But how can I drop in here? How can Uncle Barry also dropped in this universe?"

"That is slightly more complicating." Ted said. "This means that this realm does exist and there is a distance between each possible universe. I think I have a theory."

Ted walked towards a whiteboard and began to draw a cube. "Think of the two universes connecting each other as an infinity cube. Take this ABCDEFGH cube as an example. ABCD is the bottom surface and the EFGH is the top surface. The x axis like line AB is the amount of minor variables that happen in this timeline, which are infinite. The y axis like BC or AD refers to the flow of timeline on that particular variation, and it's also infinite and it keeps moving forward."

Ted continued his explanations. "The z axis on the other hand, refers to a major variable which means that the lower or higher you take these axis, the more changes that will happen in that certain universe including technology, timeline, intergalactic space relationships, etc. This one however, has an actual distance between them. And since Wally can travel beyond the speed of light, say, about 2.000.000 of c in around two hours, then that means the distance is around... 4.32*10^15 km."

"4.32 light-years." Tim said. "Which is weird because the entire Milky Way is billions of light years. He should've ended in outer space, desperately clinging for oxygen. Knowing that we're unable to travel beyond the speed of light or not even knowing what's going to happen if we do, maybe Wally is able to tear up through a new, unexplored dimension that can only be reached through that amount of speed."

"The only problem is unlocking that requires alien invasion." Ted said.

"That's the huge problem." Damian said. "When that happens, billions of lives are at stake, and we're the only ones who are capable of stopping them."

"Say they do come, and say we defeated them." Ted said. "Are you going to use that to travel back to your universe?"

"That is if I know how to do that." Wally said. "If we don't, then maybe I'll stay here indefinitely until we find another way. I'd love to help you guys. At least I didn't have to end up in some sort of a weird post-apocalyptic universe without any hope."

"Another question." Damian said. "Where did you get the Blue Beetle scarab?"

"Oh that." Ted began. "I didn't get it the first time. The first one who found it is my professor Dan Garrett. We're on an expedition in an ancient Egyptian site in Bialya."

"Goddamn it. Why is it always Ancient Egypt?" Tim said. "Out of all the places."

"I know." Ted said. "But still, Dan found the scarab. There was a cave in, and one of my favorite professor had to sacrifice himself in order to save me and the scarab."

"The scarab is actually a damaged alien artifact." Wally said. "The Reach owned it. So when they come, it's bad news for Jaime."

He nodded. The concern was quite a big one. Jaime was one of the best of the Titans. Losing him is going to be a very dangerous and unfortunate event to the team. He turned his attention to his protégé and began grabbing his shoulders, giving him encouragement.

"The scarab chose you, Jaime, and it chose you for a reason." Ted said. "It chose you because it believes you can save this world. You need to be the one to carry my professor's legacy. You want to make sure that his death is not in vain."

"I will." Jaime said.

Wally smiled. He absolutely loved the fact that the two Blue Beetles can actually interact each other. Jaime in his universe had wished that he could see Ted for at least once just so that he can have someone else to mentor. Wally and Bart have the Flash, Artemis has Green Arrow, Megan has Martian Manhunter, Superboy has Superman (although daddy issues are still up the butt), Kaldur has Aquaman, and Robin, Nightwing, and Batgirl have Batman (come to think of it, it's always Batman who has the biggest team). Jaime was one of the few superheroes on his Team which mentor has died, and that's a huge problem for him.

"Ted," Wally said. "Thank you so much for helping Jaime on his way. He's lost, and he needed guidance."

"No problem, kiddo." Ted tapped Wally's arms. "I should be thanking all to you. Without you, the world wouldn't be saved, even if you have to take extreme measures. How did your dad react to that?"

"He's angry." Damian said. "And I understood why he's angry, the same way he understood my anger. My friend couldn't take it well, however. I guess that's all we need to know. Thank you for your help."

"You're always welcome." Ted said. "Even though so far I only gave theories and not really answers."

"We just want to know how things work out from a scientist point of view." Tim said.

"I'm glad you chose mine." Ted smiled. "Now off you go. I'm going to need to do some work."

"Um... you guys go first." Wally said. "I need to speak about something to Ted."

"Sure, Wally." Damian said. "We'll meet you outside."

"Just don't take too long." Jaime said. "We'll be waiting."

"We don't have a spot for you in the car, Raven." Damian said.

"That's fine." Raven stood up and created a portal behind her back. She walked backwards and she immediately disappeared.

"That still scared the shit out of me every time." Jaime said. "Anyway, we'll catch you later Wally."

"See you." Wally said. The three guys left the room with only him and Ted on the room.

"So what are you going to talk about?" Ted said. "Does this have something to do with that pause you had when we first met?"

"Yeah." Wally said.

"Let me guess." Ted said. "I was in your universe."

"Oh how I really wished that you are there now." Wally said. "In my universe, you were a superhero too. You were the second Blue Beetle."

"Really?" Ted said. "But I never got the scarab to work."

"That's because you don't use the scarab. You made Beetle-themed gadgets." Wally said. "Dan Garrett was the first Blue Beetle in the Golden Age before he retired and became a professor. You were one of his students."

"That's just like me, except not with all that superhero stuff." Ted said.

"You joined a superhero team called the Justice League." Wally said. "You joined up with Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, all those peoples. But instead of being put on the mission, you were being put to babysit my team."

"That's harsh."

"I know, but even though you were pissed, you accepted it anyway." Wally said. "There was a Titans-like Team in my universe. We didn't really have a good name for it so we just called it the Team. There was a superhero named Red Tornado and he was the one babysitting us permanently before you did."

"Well, the Titans only have Stephanie, Tim, and Damian as experienced superheroes go, but they're at least enough to babysit metahumans like you." Ted said.

"Yeah." Wally said before giggling. "So anyway, Red Tornado quit and you were one of the permanent babysitters. In fact, you were the best babysitter for the Team. You were funny, charming, and very likeable. You get people spirits going, and we love you for that."

Ted smiled.

"But something happened. You died in one of the Justice League missions." Wally said. "When I heard that you died, I couldn't even believe it myself. You played a huge role in our team. Without you, we wouldn't be defeating supervillains as easily. Without you, we would be depressed for every single death of one of the members of the team that happened in our lives. Jason, Tula, if not for you, we would still be grieving. When you died, it took us months to get over your death. We couldn't do anything without thinking about you because you always pop up in every part of our life."

"Wow." Ted said. "I never thought that I'd be so... significant for you."

"That's why we made a memorial for you in Mount Justice. That's basically the Titans Tower for our team." Wally said. "When I saw you here, I tried as hard as possible not to hug you out of nowhere. I want to make sure to keep my attitude in check, you know? I just want to know that, even though you didn't know me very well, I know you very well. You were a great person, a great friend, and that I'm very happy to see you here."

Ted smiled. There was a legitimate tear coming out of his eyes. "Wow. That's the sweetest thing I've heard in years."

"When you died, Jaime doesn't have anyone to look up to." Wally said. "He's the third Blue Beetle and like this universe, he managed to get the scarab working on him. But there's no one to guide him. I'm glad that you were there for him."

"I'm always happy to help." Ted said.

"So can you just play him for a bit?" Wally asked. "Just imagine like we haven't seen each other for so long. I missed him so much and I'm glad that I have a chance to see him again, in a form of you at least."

Ted smiled before opening himself for an embrace. "Sure buddy."

The two embraced each other. It was quite the struggle hiding that feeling. That momentary pause was a huge giveaway, but he was glad that he at least get that chance. It felt like he was in some sort of an afterlife, a place in which he really should've been at this very moment.

But there was a universe to save, a new team, new peoples to be friends with, an entirely new world right in front of him. The Reach is coming to his life. There's no other choice. He will join the Titans and do as best as he could to save this world from another alien invasion.


	9. Pastime

Pastime  
#Part 1#

Wally woke up on the buzzing alarm of the Titans room. The alarm always put out their own theme song. It was so catchy that it even haunted every single part of his dream. He really wanted to get that song out of his head. They're not even calling themselves Titans. They're calling themselves Teen Titans, as if that make things even better.

It's been a week since he arrived here and he felt so alive. Uncle Barry was right. The Reach's Energy began to dissipate after a while and he can feel it. But other than his power, he was really starting to get used to with the Titans around. Thankfully, Tim has been very kind to let him to stay on his room while he sleeps in the sofa for this few weeks. He prefers to sleep in the sofa anyway. He said that it just reminds him of his college years, the best time of his entire life.

Someone banged on the door several times. It was only through her voice that he found out who was doing that all this time. "Wake up, Wallace!"

"Are you kidding me?" Wally said. "It's five in the morning!"

"Just open the door or I swear I'll rearrange your testicles into Jackson Pollock paintings!" Stephanie said. "Also, it's nine dumbass."

That didn't sound good.

Alright! Alright!" Wally said, waking up with the gravity pulling him down and groaning as hard as he could. He opened up the lock of the door and glanced at a pissed off Stephanie. "What?"

Stephanie stormed in, pushing Wally aside. "I left my panties here."

"Wait what?" Wally said.

"I left my freaking panties here! Are you deaf?" Stephanie said as she prepared herself to lift up the bed. "I counted all of them and one of them is gone. It must have been here."

"Why is that so important for you?"

"Do me a favor and get out of the room until I find it."

"What, no!" Wally said. "Why is that panties so important to you?"

"I said do me a favor and get out of the room." Stephanie said. "Stop asking more questions."

By this point, Wally was too afraid on stepping another step at Stephanie's inner rage. So the better action is to just close the door and let her do whatever she wants. Wally did so and went out of the room

"Just don't wreck the room up." Wally said.

"I make no promises!" Stephanie shouted inside.

##

At least the Titans lounge is a more peaceful sight. He could see Garfield and Damian playing on their video game. The Boy Genius Tim Drake faced up against Mia Queen at the game of chess. Starfire was making some waffles. Raven sat in the corner reading a book that he honestly have no idea how to read that unrecognizable ancient language. Conner and Donna were hitting at each other. And finally Megan sat in the bar stools waiting for some waffles. The only missing member is Jaime and Cyborg.

His stomach growled too, so a taste of waffle wouldn't be so hurtful, especially if it was from a very beautiful alien sitting right near another very beautiful alien girl, though admittedly her real White Martian form was pretty creepy.

"Hey, Megan." Wally said. Christ, he always remembered his shameful attempts on flirting Megan away even if he already knew that Conner already owned her. "You're waiting for some waffles?"

"Of course!" Megan said, smiling. "Starfire makes the best waffles."

"Thank you!" Starfire smiled. "Your compliment is very much appreciated."

"I want some of your waffles, too." Wally said. "How about the drink?"

"I'm fine with water." Megan said. "Although it would be nice if I can get a taste of that ice tea for once."

"I can make the ice tea." Wally said. "In fact, let me make the drinks. What do you girls want for a drink?"

"I want your very best cup of herbal tea." Starfire said. "Raven always make the best ones, but I wouldn't hurt to try one from you."

"Hey, I love herbal tea. It keeps me relaxed." Wally said. "Mint?"

"Yes."

"Roger dodger." Wally said. "Wait, waffles for everyone?"

"Everybody loves waffles!" Starfire said. "I want my friends to satiate their stomach with a delicious and wonderful taste of my homemade food!"

"Well, I guess I have to take orders from everyone too at least."

Wally took a very conveniently put notepad with pen and paper at one of the nearby shelves. He first went to Garfield and Damian playing their video games. It seemed like they were playing a racing game of some sort. Thankfully the 4K resolution allows for high-res gaming and very comfortable split screen.

"Hey, boys." Wally said. "Enjoying your games?"

"Not now, Wally. I'm a level ahead." Damian said.

"Oh you're not getting into me, you jerk." Garfield said.

"Uh yeah keep the bantering out of the way." Wally said. "I'm just here asking for your drinks."

"Coffee." Damian said. "Black. Serve it hot. No sugar. Give me your best."

"I love my black coffees too." Wally said. "How about you, Gar?"

"Herbal tea. Rosemary." Garfield said. "Mint is good too, any kind."

"Consider it done."

Wally went away from the two and started marching towards Tim and Mia playing their chess. He did his research. Tim Drake was one of the highest-rated chess player in the history with a stunning record of 3021 in the ELO rating system. Mia Queen is a former athlete who is also a chess prodigy with a very high ELO. So their battle would be anticipated like Christmas.

The chess board itself was quite messy. Neither had gotten into each other's defenses. Neither had managed to penetrate their defenses or gain a considerable advantage in the board. Tim was playing black and he was still twitching his finger on his mouth. The chess timer pointed out that it was black to move, and Tim took quite some time processing his next move against Mia. Even Mia had to think hard for her next move.

"Wow." Wally said. "You guys are cornered."

"You can say that again." Mia said. "Hey, I like that necklace."

"Thanks." Wally said. He only wore his undershirt and jacket for this time. So the eye-blinding, carbon-fiber arrowhead necklace caught her cone of vision. "I always kept this for good luck, you know? And it's designed so that it didn't break when I get into super speed mode"

"So this Artemis chick is also an archer." Mia said. "Is she good?"

"Oh she's really damn good." Wally said. "She could fire arrows while somersaulting in the air. That's freaking awesome."

"Oh, that's easy peasy." Mia said. "What did she do to get in you anyway? Does she have like extra cupid arrows or something?"

"I don't know." Wally shrugged. "Maybe she had one and I just didn't notice. How about you? Is there someone in particular that shot you with cupid arrows?"

"You don't want to talk about that, Wallace." Tim said. "She had a crush with Damian."

"Oh, really?" Wally said. "Have you said anything?"

"I didn't. He had someone else to look for." Mia said. "Besides, Damian is mostly a jerk. I'm surprised that the alien girl could hold up to him."

"He's a jerk even when he was ten." Tim said. "Trust me. If there's someone that had to endure his awkward puberty phase, it's me and Stephanie. She could deal with it somehow. She's a natural mother to everyone."

"How are you and Stephanie?" Wally asked.

"Well, we've been doing it alright for the most part." Tim said.

"I saw her barging in through your room looking for her lost panties." Wally said.

"I don't know anything about that." Tim shrugged, obviously having all the lying body languages.

"She had sex with you in your room?" Mia said. "Stephanie's not really the kind of girl that just let someone in, you know? You're very lucky to have her."

"Yeah." Tim said. "If there's one thing that I can say about her, she's always the rock-headed girl."

"And by the way, there's another reason why I don't want to have relationship with anyone." Mia added.

"Why not?"

"She is tested HIV positive." Tim replied.

"Oh." Wally said. "And you're not uh... take a rest or something?"

"My AIDS can be cured... for about a year before it comes back again." Mia said. "I have to take medications every month. The doctors at STAR Labs are still working for a permanent cure. Even then, it was still quite risky and one way or the other I can either die being experimented or mutate into a horrible creature. This one is safe for me."

"Wow." Wally said. "I'm surprised that you still accepted her here."

"Are you suggesting something, Wally?" Mia asked.

"Nothing! It's just..." Wally said. "I have friends who was tested HIV positive too. It sucks to be like them, but that doesn't mean that I have to be a jerk. There are some peoples who do, though, and that pisses me off."

"Totally." Mia said. "And I'm not the only one who had to face some serious prejudice issues. Stephanie had."

"Oh really?" Wally said. "What happened to her?"

"She was pregnant when she was sixteen." Tim said. "The baby's father went out of Gotham, the prick. She had no choice but to give the baby to the orphanage, as much as she don't want to."

"Jesus." Wally said. "So that's how she got that uh... attitude."

"She has been a hard-ass way before that. It's probably how she got up pregnant anyway." Tim said. "Believe me."

"I believe you." Wally said. "Anyway, you want some drinks after your waffle?"

"I'm fine with water, thanks." Tim said before making his move. The move that he made was quite intriguing, and definitely caught Mia off guard.

"That's interesting." Mia said. "Just put apples in a juicer. I'd be totally fine."

"Got it."

Wally then went into Superboy and Wonder Girl, who seems to have been hitting off very well. He was surprised that this universe Superboy smile rather frequently. It's not like the brooding angry bad boy jerk personality that he always had, but the introduction does not justify that.

"So do any of you lovebirds want to have some drinks for the breakfast?" Wally asked.

"A soda please." Donna replied. "Thank you."

"Yeah, me too." Conner asked.

"Um... I last checked that we only have one soda for today. Sorry." Wally said.

"Yeah, don't worry about that." Conner said. "We can share straws."

"Great." Wally said. "I'll be right back."

"Oh uh... Wally?" Conner called. "You know me from my other universe, right?"

"Yeah." Wally said.

"How was I like?" Conner asked. "I mean am I still a jerk or am I a happy cheerful 'everything is awesome' guy?"

"Well, for starters you have the same shirt." Wally said. "I'm not really familiar with this universe you, so I need someone who knew you better to tell me how you are like right now. Donna?"

"Well, despite his anger management issues, constantly being a jerk, very humorless, very dark and grim, and also daddy issues, he's a great guy." Donna said, grabbing his arms tightly. "He's wonderful. He's kind-hearted, strong, and has a good will."

Conner smiled. "You don't have to say that to make me love you."

"I love you too." Donna said.

Soon enough, the two began devouring each other. At this moment, Wally felt that he shouldn't say any more words and just leave as soon as possible out of this rather awkward moment.

He went straight into Raven, who was sitting in the corner and still reading her book. The moment his shadow engulfed her, she dropped the book and noticed.

"Hey, Raven." Wally said. "Sorry to interrupt your reading."

"Herbal Tea. Mint. Surprise me." Again, still with that monotonous voice and those straightforward no nonsense words.

"Oh I love myself some mint too." Wally said. "You know, Artemis always liked Rosemary. She really didn't like mint for some reason."

"Hey, I like that too." Raven said. "Have you ever made her one?"

"Every night before we sleep." Wally said.

"How about this?" Raven said. "Give me your best Rosemary."

"I got it." Wally said.

Perhaps that's all the orders that he could take, but Jaime was still not around for some reason. "Has anyone seen Jaime yet?"

"I think he's in the mechanics room trying to repair some stuff with Cyborg." Raven said. "You know you have the communicator, right?"

"I want to meet them." Wally said. "Where is it again?"

Raven sighed. She picked up her book and started reading it again before replying to him. "Just take the elevator down to the bottom and circle around to the back room. You'll find it."

"Thanks." Wally said.


	10. Rebuttals

Pastime  
#Part 2#

If what Wally said is true, then this Reach alien will probably have some way for the scarab to take over Jaime's body and become one of their slaves. It's going to be about as fantastic as alien invasion could get. So perhaps a chat with the scarab was necessary and inevitable.

"Khaji-Da?" Jaime began. "Do you really have to depend on that Reach database?"

_"I am free of the Reach control."_ Khaji-Da replied. _"The Reach has not come, but it will. And by that time, I cannot tell if I am going to side with you or not."_

"So what happens if they come?" Jaime asked. "What am I going to do?"

_"I do not know." _It replied. _"When I took over your body, my programming should connect into the Reach database, but I am damaged upon contact of Earth. I have been searching so long for a perfect host."_

"And I am that perfect host." Jaime said. "Why me of all peoples?"

_"I can't tell." _It replied. _"There is something about your strong will and attitude that caught my interest. I have joined you on so many battles before. Your sense of right and morality has admired me, despite my personal disagreements with it."_

"I've told you." Jaime said. "There is no reason for us to approach things in just mindless violence. We have to take it slow. If there's no other choice, then we'll go into your mode, but don't get too far."

_"Like what Damian did to Brother Blood?"_ Khaji-Da replied. _"He and his army alone has slaughtered innocents more than General Zod. Someone with that amount of power should be stopped at the most necessary of times."_

"I'm not a killer." Jaime said. "Damian had told me so many times. I may have the power to kill, but I'm not a killer. Damian was a killer even before the Titans. He had stepped out of that moral line and regretted every moment of it."

_"Did he?" _Khaji-Da replied. _"There was a sense of satisfaction when he killed him. I can feel it."_

"If there's one thing he needs to be satisfied at is that Brother Blood is not going to kill anyone anymore ever again." Jaime said.

"A conversation with the scarab?"

Suddenly, Wally barged into the garage. Jaime was startled by his appearance. He was still on his Blue Beetle mode as the scarab try to fix some minor damages on the armor.

"Uh... yeah." Jaime said.

"Look, can you just tell that I didn't mean anything to provoke your uh... little demon." Wally said. "Don't aim your gun at me. You knew that your own host thought something like that too."

"He said that you will regret saying that." Jaime said.

"Okay, I'm sorry." Wally said. "I'm just here if you want some drinks to order."

"A soda would be nice."

"Not happening." Wally said. "Superboy and Wonder Girl got that."

"Okay uh... how about orange juice?"

"I guess we have some." Wally said. "You want the bottled one or the juicer one?"

"Anything works." Jaime said.

"Great." Wally said. "Have you seen Cyborg?"

"Cyborg is out to buy some food, but I doubt that he's going to buy any drinks for all of us anyway. I forgot to tell him." Jaime said.

"He's going out?" Wally said. "Is he really going out with that Terminator face on him?"

"Of course not." Jaime said. "He programmed a digital disguise. It will blend around. Don't worry about it."

"Well awesome." Wally said. "Looks like all the orders are in. Star is about to finish her waffles. You're coming up?"

"I'll be there." Jaime said. "Thanks for coming, Wally."

"No problem, buddy." Wally said. "And uh... say my hello to the scarab."

"You have."

##

"Waffles are ready!" Starfire announced as she grabbed in a plate full of waffles into the bar table.

Chants of "Whoa", "Cool", "Awesome", and similar kinds of cries can be heard from many of the members. Wally also came in right beside her with the drinks.

"And drinks are ready too." Wally gave all of the drinks orders. "I'm the best bartender you can find."

Damian was the first one to try the waffles. Now, since Starfire was well known for her horrible early attempts at cooking Earth cuisines, at least through gossips from her friends anyway, Wally darted his eyes towards her boyfriend on his comment about her lovely cuisine.

"Wow." Damian said. "This is very tasty."

"Really?" Starfire said. "I am very glad that you liked it. It's the least I can do, my love."

The two began touching each other's hands and smiling. The other either saw it with a very delightful 'Aww' face or a face of disgust.

"Mmm..." Raven said after she got a taste of Wally's Rosemary Herbal Tea. "I have to admit. Your Rosemary is quite impressive."

"Thanks, Raven." Wally said. "That's my girlfriend's recipe. No one else can make it as good as her than me."

"I bet." Raven said.

"I liked the tea too." Garfield suddenly replied, who was sitting right besides Raven all this time, obviously trying to interrupt something. "You're really good at this!"

"Thank you, Gar." Wally said.

"Since when did you start drinking teas?" Raven asked.

"I'm a vegan, Rae." Garfield said. "I eat plants. I drink plants."

"So you drink nectars too?" Wally said.

"Yeah... No! Wait!"

That statement was followed with Wally laughing and Raven giggling under her breath. Garfield took a glance at Raven giggling and immediately smiled back.

"I mean sure. I drink nectars sometimes." Garfield said. "But believe me when I say that I've drank worse. That cactus juice I drank when I was stuck in a desert made me about as sober as drinking five bottles of Brandy."

"Which also means that you're dead." Raven said.

"It's just a hyperbole!" Garfield said.

"Since when did you know something about figures of speech?" Raven rested her chin towards the table and glanced at Garfield in the most condescending of ways. The look on her face either signaled that she's challenging his intelligence with her sarcasm... or she just wanted to fuck around with his alpha male instincts.

"I uh... I..." Garfield, obviously mesmerized by that look, began to stutter as he glanced at Raven looking at him with that stare. He snapped back into reality by shaking his head and say his reply. "I used to be not so fun before!"

Even then, he gave a 'who cares about your opinion' face while crossing his hands. Raven still gave him a smile and that condescending look at his face.

"And Raven, uh..." Wally broke off the tension. "I forgot to apologize pushing you out when we first met. That was not so nice."

"That's fine." Raven said. "You could've done much worse intros."

"And sorry for kicking you in the head after that." Garfield said.

"I'm cool, buddy." Wally said. "You're just protecting your friend. I get it."

"We would've done so much worse if you were our enemy, or a part of the Brotherhood." Raven said.

"Oh screw those guys. Really." Wally said. "Why did they do what they do anyway?"

"Hatred. That's it." Raven said. "They were a bunch of hypocrites who says that humanity is a flaw in the existence of the universe or some bullcrap like that, even though they themselves are the flaws of humanity. They're both scary and irritating at the same time. You just want them to die. If there's one shameful thing that I have to admit is that I did kill some of their members out of rage, but do I look like I care? Those guys killed thousands of innocents. There's nothing that can justify that."

"Fuck those guys." Garfield said. "I fucking hate them and I wish they all burn in hell."

"Calm down, Gar." Raven said. "The only thing you manage to solve by anger is getting Damian injured. Not saying he didn't deserve it, but the point is you'll break something."

"I know. I'm sorry." Garfield said.

"I'm going to check up on the others." Wally said.

Later, he checked up on Superboy and Wonder Girl drinking a can of soda with two straws into each of their mouths. On their left were a pissed off Stephanie and a very confused Tim. On their far left is Damian, sharing stares with the insanely beautiful Starfire. Seriously, if Starfire really was an alien from outer space, she could be quite literally an angel sent out for him.

"You guys look so cute together." Wally said towards Conner and Donna.

"Thanks. "Conner said. "Starfire really makes the best waffles."

"She always have." Donna said.

"You still haven't answered my question." Conner said.

"Oh sorry!" Wally said. "You were practically eating each other after that. Anyway, although you are still half-Human, half-Kryptonian–"

"I'm not." Conner said. "I'm a full Kryptonian, but for some reason I don't have laser sight or flight like Superman does."

"Okay but the point is that you were a half human, half Kryptonian." Wally said.

"Who are my parents?"

"Who are your parents now?"

"Well, my father is General Zod and my mother is... I honestly don't know." Conner said. "My father said that I was produced by his genetic code and someone else's in a pod. Kal-El is the first natural birth of Krypton in centuries. That's why he easily got all of that power and can be stronger than Zod. That's why I can't be as strong as him."

"Oh..." Wally said. "Well, in my universe, you were a clone of Superman created by Project CADMUS. Robin, Aqualad, and I went into one of their research stations and found you there. We don't know much about you but we invite you to the team nonetheless. It turns out that you are the son of Lex Luthor and Superman."

Tim was about to spat out most of the contents of his drinks when he heard that. "Wait, what?"

"Yup." Wally said. "And no, they don't have sex to get something like that. They only share the same genetic codes. I don't know how that works technically."

"But the point is I still do come from bad blood." Conner said. "It's just from a different source. That's all."

"That means now you're not really tied up to Superman in any way except for your Kryptonian blood." Wally said. "And yet you still look like him. What's the matter with that?"

"I don't know." Conner said. "Clark is the only person that acts like a good father role in my life. Seriously, if–"

"You're seriously putting Wally in the middle of this?" Stephanie interrupted by saying those words out loud. "For god's sake, I am so glad that he found out that I left my panties right on your own room just so that peoples can think of millions of dirty things that Tim Drake has done to me."

"Oh, you're saying that I'm the one to be blamed right here?" Tim said. "You were passed out drunk and I didn't even know you were supposed to wear panties."

"Excuses... excuses... stop that please." Stephanie said.

"But... but it's the truth!" Tim said.

"Guys, can you keep the panties dialogue to a minimum?" Wally said. "Peoples are trying to eat some waffles here."

"Alright. I'm sorry." Stephanie said. "There's been way too many instances where Tim had been quite the perverted jerk."

"You're the perverted jerk!"

"Oh you two just kiss already!" Wally said.

Tim glanced at Wally weird and gave his comments. "What are you talking about–"

Stephanie lunged herself towards Tim and began devouring his mouth as much as she could. Tim was honestly surprised by that sudden reaction, but then she let it go and there was an intense blushing on his face.

Wally groaned, extremely puzzled and confused. "Guys, I was joking! Seriously no kissing here. You're going to make the others puke."

"Human behaviors sometimes really confuse me." Starfire added her comment out of nowhere.

"Well, Stephanie and Tim are among the weirdest couples here." Damian said.

"Oh like you're not, Demon Boy." Tim said. "You're dating an alien who just a mere sneezing can blow up an entire warehouse."

Stephanie slapped Tim on his arms, causing him to groan before she gave her thought. "You insensitive prick."

"That is... not nice." Starfire said.

"Don't worry, Star." Damian said. "We're talking with a guy dating a chick who wears a tight batsuit every night who also left her panties right in her boyfriend's room while drunk with brandy. And you're saying that I'm the weird one here."

"Seriously, Damian?" Stephanie said. "You're going to do this again?"

"Nah." Damian said. "Tim just becomes too boring."

"Don't care what you think." Tim said. "I have my girlfriend's panties on my room. I want to see you do the same thing to Star."

"Oh so all this time you stole it just for that." Stephanie said.

"Hey, I didn't say that I stole it!" Tim said. "I'm just making a point."

"Yeah, and have you put that point in too?" Damian said.

"Urgh, stop with the innuendos, Damian." Stephanie said. "You know Tim, maybe I should bite you next time."

"I am very confused of what you are suggesting right now." Starfire said.

"Me neither, love." Damian said, holding her hands.

"Aww... So sweet." Stephanie said. " You're finally starting to give your girlfriend cute nicknames. I prefer honey myself, right honey?"

Stephanie hugged Tim's arms. There was a very small smile sighted right on his lips. "Yeah me too uh... honey."

"So Wally," Stephanie asked. "How's your sex life?"

That train of dialogue caused Tim to flinch. Wally also widened her eyes on that question.

"That's not something I'd quote every day." Wally said.

"I thought that movie was brilliant." Stephanie said. "It's truly one master class of a film."

"Well, you're the only one, unless you're being ironic." Wally said. "Anyway, me and Artemis... well... we didn't start off great at first. We'll fight even at the smallest of topics. I made fun of her dress, she made fun of my face, I punched her in the arms, she punched me in the stomach, all that good stuff. But eventually, she grew on me and, well, I started to like her, especially after knowing her family and how she tried to protect the team as hard as she could."

"Isn't that a start to every love story ever?" Tim said.

"I know." Wally said. "I've been with her for the past five years. She's an amazing woman. She's quite the hardass and can be very stubborn at times, but she's strong and have a good will. She came from bad blood sure, but she was raised from the good ones and I'm so proud of her all to this day. I'm so stupid not to tell her how I felt. I would've been much happier sooner."

"Wow." Stephanie said. "So five years, you've been together fighting supervillains? I only fight a couple of thugs and a couple of mercenaries. They were pretty tough, but I bet your supervillains had some magic powers or techno-babbles that can make them fly or knock peoples out in a second."

"They have all of that and more." Wally said.

"We fight a huge dragon. No seriously." Tim said. "The dragon came from Raven's book of magic of some sort. It was released out of the book and it soon enough tried to consume the entire world by summoning undeads. These undeads are no joke. Conventional weapons are useless, so we had to enchant our weapons with magical properties before we could even beat them."

"Seriously, it's Damian Wayne as Robin with a knight armor and a magical sword riding Beast Boy as a horse slaughtering undeads on the way while trying to save Starfire from her morally ambiguous sister and a huge dragon." Stephanie said. "That is without a doubt the most awesome thing I've ever experienced in my entire life and it was no freaking joke. That actually happened a year after the Zod attack."

"Wow." Wally said. "It sounds like you're having quite the awesome time... before the Brotherhood at least."

"The Brotherhood's a more serious business and quite the bitch to handle. Let's not talk about that one." Stephanie said. " Anyway, all is well until the Reach comes and you both had to split, right?"

"It's more than that." Wally said. "But I guess I shouldn't go into details."

"So say that you can come back to your universe, will you?" Stephanie asked.

Wally always had that train of thought on him, but he never found a good answer for it. "I... honestly don't know."

"Don't worry." Stephanie said. "You'll probably know the answer later. Either staying or coming back, the Titans will help you in any way we can."

"Thanks, guys." Wally smiled.


	11. Dirty Secrets

Pastime  
#Part 3#

It's a few hours before her usual sleep time. Raven always didn't really have a lot of time to take her sleep. Usually a good meditation and a few chatting with some friends would always be a great relief, but those simply felt empty and not so enough to calm her nerves. It was probably the rosemary tea that Wally made last time, but that tea should've calmed her down instead of make her tense like this.

On her Skype in her laptop, Raven had been chatting with her fellow sorcerer and magician Traci Thirteen and Zatanna Zatara. They were considered honorary Titans during the Blackfire fiasco and unfortunately cannot fully join because one reason after the other.

"There's absolutely no reason for you not to join the Titans, Traci." Raven said.

_"You know I can't, girl."_ Traci said. _"I have a new job and I kind of like it there. Besides, I kind of feel a little weird in the same team with my boyfriend."_

"We had to endure Conner and Donna, Tim and Stephanie, and Damian and Starfire every day practically eating each other." Raven said. "Jaime is hungry for you. Just let him eat you or something."

_"How about you, Raven?"_ Zatanna said. _"Have you ever considered a date?"_

_"Garfield is kind of cute."_ Traci said. _"He's quite the funny guy."_

"I'm not dating Garfield." Raven said. "Besides, his jokes are really getting old."

_"Come on."_ Zatanna said. _"He might not be all that funny as before, but he's still a good guy. You don't need me to tell you that deep down you actually really like the guy."_

"I'm closing the chat right now."

_"Raven!"_ Zatanna whined.

Raven giggled. "Just kidding. Someone's on the door."

She went out to open the door that has been knocked upon last time, but unfortunately nobody is there, which is pretty unlikely since on her corridor, there's no place to either hide or run away, unless if it was Beast Boy's room right across her own.

"Hello?" Raven said, glancing left and right for potential doorbell pranksters.

Even with the magic, she couldn't really detect whoever is right there. She sighed and closed the door back. As she turned around back into her laptop, she shouted her lungs out upon the sudden appearance of Beast Boy sitting comfortably with his leg crossed and laughing right in front of the two girls on her chat.

"Told you she's going to squeal!" Garfield told the two girls on the chat.

She could practically hear the two girls laughing their asses off on Raven's squealing voice. Garfield embraced his victory by laughing his ass off with them as well.

"You mother of..." Raven initially said before she took a pillow and began chasing him around like a Benny Hill show.

"Hey!" Garfield for some reason stopped running halfway through as he let her smack him down with a pillow. "I'm just kidding, Rae! I'm just kidding! Oww!"

"Come here, you!" Raven said, still chasing him and still smacking him down with a pillow.

_"Oh my god you two look so cute together!"_ Zatanna said.

_"Yeah!"_ Traci said. _"Just bend over and let him fuck you already!"_

What Raven did not realize is that during the chase, Garfield managed to turn the webcam to face directly at her beating him down with a pillow. Raven immediately used her Azarath magic to close the webcam off.

"Hey, that's not cool!" Garfield said. "Let them talk."

"You're seriously not doing this, Gar." Raven said. "Please, I'm going to sleep."

"Liar." Garfield said. "I know well when you're lying, Rae."

"And I know very well when you're about to annoy the living shit out of me, Gar." Raven said.

"Annoy?" Garfield said. "I didn't mean to! I'm just trying to have fun."

"Well, good for you." Raven said. "I had to suffer through the laughs of two sorcerers and a guy who is practically a DNA etch-a-sketch popping out of nowhere interrupting my Skype. Wait, have you done this before?"

"What?"

"Have you turned into a mosquito and spy on things you don't need to look at?" Raven said.

"What? No!" Garfield said, trying to hide his lies.

"You're quite the naughty and perverted man, Gar." Raven said.

She then used her magic to open up the webcam of her laptop and gave her reports. "Girls, you definitely need to hear this."

_"What is it, Rae?" _Traci asked.

"Garfield has turned into a mosquito to spy on naked girls in the shower." Raven said.

_"Oh my god, really?" _Zatanna said.

"I didn't! I swear!" Garfield said. "I never wanted to do that! Believe me!"

"Oh I don't know, Gar." Raven said. "I have another thing in my mind."

Raven opened a portal directly to where Donna was sitting. She then muttered her request. "Donna, I'm going to need some help."

"Oh no." Garfield said. "You're seriously not going to use her."

"What's the matter, Raven?" Donna said.

"I'm going to need the Lasso of Truth." Raven said. "It turns out that Garfield had been turning into a mosquito in order to peek in places that he doesn't need to be."

"Oh really?" Donna smirked. "Don't worry, Raven. I'm going to enjoy this."

"Girls, please." Garfield said. He was beyond drenched with sweat at this moment. "You don't have to do this."

_"Donna, Raven, do your worst." _Zatanna said on the stream.

_"Oh my god, a real man confession!" _Traci said. _"Can you do that to Jaime, please?"_

"Hey Traci, Zatanna." Donna said, taking out the glowing lasso out of her pocket. "Sorry, I'm only going to do it with a morally questionable person, and this case is no exception."

Garfield immediately turned into a mosquito and tried to run away, but Raven's force field managed to get the better of him. He crashed into its edge and propelled back into a human form.

"No escape, Beast Boy." Raven said. "Now sit down and let the lasso do the work."

Garfield bit his teeth and gulped. That's where he was completely engulfed with the lasso. That's where he was about to show his confessions.

"Girls, please." Garfield said. "I'm telling the truth! I never wanted to do that, nor I ever want to."

"Do you want to do the interrogating?" Donna asked towards Raven.

"With a lot of pleasure." Raven said. She went in closer towards a highly sweating Garfield and began to do the questioning. "So have you been snooping around in that mosquito form?"

The lasso glowed. That's where the effect came in. "I... have snooped around."

"Oh really?" Raven said. "Where?"

"I... snooped around as a mosquito to tell Damian on Tim's card during the last poker match." Garfield said. "I owe him a favor."

"Oh that's why he won last time." Donna said. "He caught Tim's bluff."

"What else?" Raven said. "Have you gone to places where you shouldn't be as a mosquito?"

"Only that, this time, when reading's some of Raven's books including her diary in the library, and during lots of missions. Nothing else." Garfield confessed. "Okay, there's one time where I peeked out on the girl's dorm, but I was in Middle School and I didn't have my powers nor did I have manners, okay?"

That answer managed to surprise every girl in the room and the one in the chat room witnessing that event right now.

"Wow." Raven said. "I'm... honestly surprised. Are you sure that thing is working?"

"Have you watched porn?" Donna asked quite the direct question.

"Yes." Garfield answered.

"Have you jacked off to it?" Donna asked again.

"Hell yes!" Garfield said. "I'm a normal everyday young male. Of course I jacked off!"

"It's working." Donna confirmed.

"Out of all the questions you could've asked, why that one?" Raven asked, clearly about to puke.

"Well, that is the one thing that every man lies for their own good." Donna said. "He's definitely not going to let that slip."

_"Wow!" _Traci said. _"The Amazons really rock!"_

_"I'm going to need a barf bag." _Zatanna said.

"Oh come on, girls." Donna said. "Don't pretend to be disgusted. It's what men do every night to fulfill their sexual fantasies. Are you disgusted, Raven?"

The girls started to look at her weird. Raven started to become curious of what those looks suggest. Were they really suggesting that?

"Of course I am!" Raven said. "Why in the world would I think otherwise?"

"Clearly lying." Donna said. She turned her attention back to Garfield. "So why did you get inside Raven's room?"

"I..." Garfield struggled as hard as he could to resist the Lasso of Truth. "I just want to scare her and have fun with her."

"Why?"

"I'm just a little bored." Garfield said.

"Well, you could've played games or do anything else." Donna said. "This is the girl that can shout at you every time you made a stupid joke or annoy the living crap out of her. Why look for her for fun? Why her?"

"Because..." He was really trying this time. "Because I really like her."

Things got really out of hand with that line. That line was too shocking for someone as emotionless as Raven to handle. Now that she got butterflies at her stomach and heart beating like it was struggling to get out of her chest, she couldn't let it out. Her laptop screen just cracked, disconnecting her to the other friends. All of that thanks to her not being able to control her powers that are based on her emotions.

"Oh..." Raven broke the tension as she struggled to keep her breath consistent. She turned around in an instant towards the wall and phased through it before something more embarrassing happens.

"I really don't want her to know it this way." Garfield said.

Donna immediately released the lasso out of him and crouched down with a very guilty face. "I'm so sorry, Gar."

"It's fine." Garfield said. "Maybe I should talk to her."

"Uh uh... no." Donna said. "She's going to need a lot of time to process that. Just trust me on this. The other girls had that same experience too."

Garfield nodded and smiled.

"If you don't mind me asking, why do you like her?" Donna asked.

"Sympathy, mostly." Garfield said. "I can't tell you why. It's very personal... not for me, but for her."

"Oh." Donna said. "You knew her secrets?"

"It wasn't anything naughty." Garfield said. "The best thing I can say is that it's serious stuff, and it's really affecting her ever since she was born."

"Goddess." Donna said. "I'm hoping that she's alright."

"She needs someone." Garfield said.

"Do you want to be that person?" Donna said.

"If that's what it takes to make her happy, yes." Garfield said. "I need to sleep."

"Go." Donna said. "I guess you're going to be needing much thinking after all of that. Again, sorry."

"Don't be. It's not your fault."

Garfield left the room and went into his.

##

It's just the next day after that little tidbit. Raven was sitting on the corner as usual reading a book. He frowned upon the sight of her eyes keeping her focus towards that book with words he understand as much as he understand Ancient Sanskrit, because that was literally what she read. Although she took that book seriously, he captured her darting her eyes away from it and back towards him, during which he disconnected his vision quite literally in a blink of an eye.

It was probably wise to keep her mouth open about something as concerning as an inter-dimensional demon who is about to take over the world through the portal that she will potentially make. The Afternoon couldn't be more awkward with them darting their eyes back and forth. He had to ask. This was way too awkward.

He stood up and walked towards the mysterious girl. Raven lifted her book higher to the point where she covered her entire face. As an avid reader, her attempts at hiding was about as authentic as using a newspaper to hide your face like in those silly spy movies. Seriously, no one reads that close.

"Hey, Raven." Garfield said. "I... I want to talk about last night."

Raven sighed. She dropped her book, revealing her admittedly beautiful face, and began asking questions. "What is there to talk about?"

"I... well..." Garfield began. "I just want to make sure that the things between us aren't as awkward as it may be."

"Yeah, how awkward can it be?" Raven said.

"Yeah." Garfield said. "Especially your secret."

Raven flinched. "What do you know about it?"

"It's something that deserves to be talked about." Garfield said. "And I think I can understand the hate."

"What hate?" Raven asked.

"Maybe we should talk about this somewhere else–"

That's where a really annoying, really disturbing echo of the Titans Alarm burst through the entire room like the fireworks of New Year.

"Trouble!" Wally shouted.

"Everybody, get to the briefing room! Double time!" Damian shouted.

Everyone managed to get on their feet and ran towards the briefing room as fast as they could. Despite all of their efforts, Wally was the speedster on the team. So it made sense why he would be the first one to come looking for the screen.

"Oh no." KF said.

"What is it, KF?" Robin asked.

"This is a million frames per second camera. I can see what's going on in that speed." KF said. "I saw two speedsters running. One is someone I recognize. The other one is the same but in green."

"Is it the Flash?" Robin asked.

"No, it's not." KF said, turning around towards the Titans before revealing the big reveal. "It's another speedster from my universe."

All the Titans widened their eyes on that revelation.

"What are we going to do, then?" Robin asked.

"We're going to save him, Bart Allen AKA Impulse." KF said. "Whoever this green speedster is, he's probably dangerous. Try to keep your six at all times and make sure you use force fields to corner him or stop him. I'm going to help Bart fight this other speedster. Somebody call the Flash. He definitely wants to know about this."

##

_A/N: And that concludes the first Phase of the story. Each phase is going to have about 10-20 chapters. The next phase is going to be mostly about this mysterious speedster. I'm really hoping that this is going to end well, and I'm really hoping that I can end this series. So please give the support guys. I appreciate the favorites and the likes and I defintiely appreciate the views, but reviews and constructive criticisms equals LOVE. So review, favorite, follow, or anything. I appreciate it. Thanks for Reading. :)_


	12. Impulse

Inertia

#Part 1#

Impulse managed to somehow catch up to his speed. He managed to grab his shoulder, but seconds before he could even think of something harmful to do towards his enemy, he felt something cracking on his lower bones, causing unimaginable pain through his lower body. Stopping midway really messed up his momentum. He slipped and crashed several times into the ground before finally hitting a concrete wall. With that amount of running and speed, it was enough to break it to pieces.

The mysterious enemy stopped for a moment and glanced at the fallen hero clutching and groaning in pain.

"What's the matter, Bart Brat?" He said. "You got cramps on your legs?"

"I'm going to get you!" Impulse said.

"How are you going to do that?" He asked. "Your leg is about as painful as it can get, and I'm going to make it even more painful."

The enemy kicked him several times in the stomach. He groaned in pain and grabbed his stomach, ignoring his severely broken legs.

"I didn't even try to kick you at full speed."

Just moments before he said that, he pulled him up. In mid-air, he kicked him on the stomach with the best speed he could. Although Impulse was able to block it through both of his hands, he propelled into the same concrete wall. This time, he managed to break through inside it, a very common storage room full of racks and items. He didn't crash to any of them, though.

"You're a failure, Bart." He said.

At this moment, Impulse had nothing. The only thing he could move now is his right hand. He couldn't move his left because of the pain. It felt like something stabbed his arm and twisted it around inside. He couldn't get his hand on it, quite literally. To make matters worse, he was sure that the pieces of his broken ribs just sliced off some of his blood vessels. His feet didn't help much either. Just looking at the visually present dislocated knees on his right caused him to shriek in disgust. Even moving it slightly managed to cause another agonizing pain.

"You shouldn't have won that war." The green speedster continued his monologue. "Someone like you could only ruin what's going to come next."

That sound, the sound of windows breaking up into pieces managed to get into his eardrums. It happened almost every millisecond. It broke, and broke, and broke, and it kept breaking more things on its way. The sound got bigger and bigger. It went louder and louder. That's where he noticed the other speedster right behind the green speedster's back.

The green didn't even have time to react. He barely turned his back and he knew he was screwed the moment that fist made in contact with his face, in super speed no less. The super speed fist punch managed to cause a sonic boom, breaking everything in its surroundings and caused the slouching Impulse to stretch his eyes into intangible proportions

"Fuck!" Impulse reacted.

"No one is going to hurt my little buddy."

Impulse glanced at the man who uttered those words. It was Wally West AKA Kid Flash. The man was still on that yellow suit, a bit tattered probably thanks to all that running in that Reach device, but at least he's back in the game.

KF offered his hand towards the speedster.

"I... can't." Impulse said.

"I got the queue." KF lifted him and his legs up, causing him to groan. "That must have been hurt."

"You couldn't imagine."

KF smiled. "Raven, bring him back home. I'm going to deal with the other guy."

Raven unleashed a portal right in front of Wally. Megan was on the other end of the portal. She used her telekinesis power to lift Impulse back inside the Portal without hurting him. Despite his groaning, Megan kept on going. By the time he fully entered the portal, Raven closed it.

"Thanks Raven." Wally said.

_"We got him." _Raven said. _"Be careful, Wally."_

"Is there a policy of using real names on a radio?" KF asked before he turned around to find the culprit of this entire trouble. "Never mind. I got something bigger to handle."

KF rushed towards the destruction he caused by that punch. He widened his eyes. Three layers of heavy concrete walls were broken. He was glad that it was night time and he punched him inside an empty office, so his punch wouldn't have hurt anyone despite the property damage. Seeing in the dark was not one of KF's fortes. So he had to use his night vision goggles to identify him. That's where he had to deliver the bad news.

"Oh crap." KF said. "Guys, whoever this other speedster is, he's gone."

_"Stay in there." _Robin said. _"I'm going to check into the satellites. His kinetic energy could probably be too much for the cameras to be handled."_

"Can you find him?"

_"Crap, he's gone." _Robin said. _"I can't track him."_

KF began to shout out his lungs on the event. "Damn it!"

_"We're going to find him, Wally." _Robin said. _"For this moment on, meet me back at the Titans Tower. You saved another speedster. Good job, KF."_

"Thanks, Rob."

##

Wally returned back to the Titans Tower still in his outfit. He took off his mask and walked in towards the infirmary to find a heavily injured Bart Allen on his Impulse costume. On his side is the always good doctor Stephanie Brown with Damian across her trying to check on his conditions and waiting for a debrief on this current trouble.

"Does he have to endure that bone-relocation process?" Wally asked.

"Yup." Stephanie said. "Don't worry. You don't have to see it again."

"After relocating the bones, his lower abdomen is severely damaged. His ribs broke into pieces. Lots of internal bleeding. I really don't think he's going to make it, but I'm surprised that he did." Damian revealed. " If this super-healing thing is true for him, then he might be able to get back in probably a week or two."

"Two weeks or more." Stephanie said. "By that time, his powers are useless."

"And by that time, the other speedster is going to terrorize the world." Wally said. "We still need to keep track of that speedster, but we're going to need more than just trackers. You can't imagine what a speedster villain can do. They can just go in and rob a bank without someone noticing or even any sorts of security cameras picking them up."

"You're right." Damian said. "How are we going to defend against this thing?"

"Just in case you don't know, most of the security cameras of the 2029 are already installed with hi-tech a hundred thousand frames per second camera at a stuttering 16MP resolution." Stephanie said. "No cameras are not going to capture him."

"You're kidding." Wally said. "I'm going to stay in here for now, just in case if he wakes up."

"He's only knocked out." Stephanie said. "That blow to the stomach in super speed was quite hard. In fact, anything hitting you in super speed is going to be really hard."

"I just went in super speed to punch his face." Wally said. "I must have broken his bones already. The strange thing is he can still run very fast and his bones didn't break from that constant speed running. He must have been an exception to the rule. He must have been someone special."

"His bones are going to break eventually." Damian said. "We're going to find him. Don't worry."

Wally smiled as Damian gave his encouragement. He sighed.

"So tell me about Bart." Damian said.

"He's a speedster from the future in my timeline." Wally said. "He's Barry Allen's future grandson, who turns out to have the same powers as him surprise-surprise."

"Wow." Damian said. "He actually travelled back through time?"

"I don't know how the mechanics worked." Wally said.

"If that's the case, then why didn't we see time travellers recorded on history?" Stephanie asked.

"Maybe you're just living in a universe where no one bothers to time travel even when they know it's very possible." Wally said. "I don't really know if he really travelled from the future or if it was some sort of an alternate universe."

"So what are we going to do about him?" Stephanie asked.

All of that dialogue was interrupted with Bart, groaning like a yawning dog. Bart regained his consciousness and tried to wake up, but Wally pushed him back down.

"Relax, buddy." Wally said. "You're going to be fine."

"Where am I?" Bart asked.

"You're in the Titans Tower." Wally said. "It's basically like our team, but with the Titans name on it. You'll be safe."

"So..." Bart said. "Did we... did we won?"

"Of course we did." Wally said. "You don't know?"

"No, I don't." Bart said. "I was... running with the device then he attacked me. I need to... arggh!"

"Your bones just got relocated." Wally said. "I know it's a pain, but it's going to go away for about a week or so. Trust me on this."

"We're not going to have a week." Bart said.

"Why not?" Wally shrugged.

"Because he's going to use all his powers to destroy me."

Wally froze. "Him? You mean the other speedster?"

"Yes."

"Who is he?"

"His name is Thaddeus Thawne. He called himself Inertia." Bart began. "He came from the future to kill me, because he said that the Reach should've won."

"But Uncle Barry said that we won the fight and you're still with him." Wally said. "How are you still fighting this Inertia guy on the Reach device?"

"I don't know about that. He's like... an older version of me." Bart said. "Inertia and I fought over around one of Reach's Earth devices. When we fought, I got hit. I kept running to destroy it while he kept running to stop me."

"Oh. I get it now." Damian said. "Inertia probably came through the future of Wally's universe. He then travelled back to past and entered your timeline, thus creating a new set of another timeline. It's a timeline where not only Impulse came into the past, but also Inertia."

"That's why you still have the Impulse outfit on." Wally said. "Barry said that you replaced me as Kid-Flash, in my timeline at least. So you should've had your KF outfit instead."

"What are you talking about?" Bart asked. "I travelled back through the past and he did too. I never took your place."

"This Inertia guy travelled back to past and created a new variable in the x-axis that are the same as Wally's." Damian said. "Whatever you did on that timeline, it's only going to create a different timeline and in no way is going to affect the future of the time you came from."

Stephanie cleared her throat. "So let me get this straight. Basically in our universe we have three speedsters that came from two different scenarios or what-ifs that are happening in another universe that are almost identical. One is what-if this Inertia supervillain didn't travel back to the past, and one is what-if he did."

"Yup." Wally said. "Surprised that you managed to get a catch on that."

"Hey, I may be blonde, but I'm not stupid." Stephanie shrugged.

"Wait a minute." Bart said. "I'm still really confused. Am I in the future or something?"

"Future is correct, but you're in a different future." Wally said. "You're in an alternative universe."

"Whoa." Bart said. "So in your universe, I didn't die?" Bart said.

"You didn't." Wally said. "I did... well... sort of did. I died and you took the Kid Flash mantle. Now that since I'm the one being told to what happen in the future after we won the Reach War, I'm the one who should be doing the spoiling."

Bart scoffed. "Does it really matter? You won because I was there. My universe probably didn't win because I just left it to rot."

"Just remember, Bart." Wally said. "The possibilities of universes are infinite, and I can confirm that there's a universe where you stayed and save the world."

"Although I have to admit. That idea alone is pretty terrifying." Stephanie said. "You left your universe to rot just to make another one because you can't save the one you had before. Even if there is a universe where we saved the world, there's probably a universe where we didn't. If we are in a universe where we didn't, are we going to leave that universe to die or are we going to stay in there to die with them? Or maybe if we're in a universe where we won. Will we go out there and find a universe where we didn't win to fix it or just leave it as it may be?"

"I don't know about you, but if the universe wants us dead, then we should be dead." Wally said. "It's kind of cheating if we didn't, and kind of a selfish thing to do if we just travel back to a place where nothing happens. Besides, we can't change one's universe. We can only create a new one, a better one but we can't still change it."

"There's also might be a universe where we don't have to deal with the Joker or the Brotherhood bullcrap." Stephanie said. "My, how amazing that would've been. We wouldn't have lost so many peoples."

"But the only ones that are capable of making that universe leap so far is only speedsters." Damian said. "My advice is that even though you have super speed, let's not use that for any more universe leap."

"You're right." Wally said.

"Wally, I know that this is a stupid question but I want you to make your judgment for the sake of this team." Damian said. "Do you trust Bart enough to be a member of the Titans?"

"You're right. That's a stupid question." Wally said. "I've been with him throughout the Reach's War. He might be slightly hyperactive and spoiling a lot of future stuff, but other than that, he's a good guy. He's going to help all of us here to combat the Reach just in case if they show up, right Bart?"

"Yeah sure. I'll help." Bart said. "I won't disappoint."

"Good." Damian said. "For this day, I want you to rest and heal your wounds. Tomorrow, you'll going to be initiated and you'll be meeting the rest of the Titans members anytime soon."

"Are there any familiar faces?" Bart asked.

"Of course there are." Wally said. "They got Superboy, Miss Martian, Blue Beetle, and Tim Drake Robin. The rest are new."

"Oh and by the way, I'm Stephanie Brown." Stephanie said. "I'm Batgirl. Need I say more?"

"And my name is Damian Wayne. I'm this year and this universe's Robin." Damian began. "I'm the leader of the Titans. We're a group of superheroes who are saving the world from evil supervillains. We're very experienced at this work, so we would appreciate it if you join us as a member."

"Of course I would." Bart said. "I'm a hero, and I'll always be. That's what I do."

"Welcome to the party." Wally tapped on his shoulder and encouraged him. "We're glad to have you here, buddy."

"Well, I guess it's time for me to work out a bit." Damian said. "See you all in a flash."

"Really, you're doing that too?" Stephanie said.

"I've been wanting to say that." Damian said. "Also, I get to relocate the bone next time."

"I'm not going to let you." Stephanie said.

"Wait, relocated my bones?" Bart said. "Who... who did that?"

Stephanie simply raised her hand.

"Well, at least it was a hot girl who did it." Bart said.

Stephanie giggled. "I'm very flattered, but sorry. I'm engaged."

"She's Tim's girlfriend." Wally said. "So watch your mouth next time."

Bart made a very bright smile that can make the fist-itchy Damian if he did act that way around Starfire.


	13. Inertia

Inertia

#Part 2#

It didn't take long for Inertia to get lots of money from many different banks. Inertia gathered in hundreds of both professional and amateur mercs looking to set up scores. Other than that, he also brought in some inmates. On the top of their tiers separating them from their classes were four of the most advanced mercenaries and metas that he could find.

Lawrence was in the top office room of some sort of a warehouse filled by peoples with different angles and motivations chatting at each other, questioning their purpose in this entire room. The mercenaries had nothing in common. They had no one to talk with. And here they are, creating what's best be described as white noise. He breathed in relief as he had to be distracted away from those mercenary peasants as he walked into a more peaceful area of the warehouse office upstairs.

There, he noticed a woman as familiar as the sunlight. God knows he needed enough woman in his life to make things more complicating. Her black hair dribbled down all the way to her shoulder. Her green top covered all but her cleavage, exposed for about as long as half a pencil. The moment she laid her eyes upon the man inside the room, she widened her eyes in disbelief.

"Dad?" Jade said. "What are you doing here?"

"Could've asked you the same thing." Lawrence said. "You're in it for the money?"

"As long as someone's paying me for coming through this mess of a crowd, sure." Jade said. "How's little sister?"

"She's fine." Lawrence said. "She's definitely going to make it through all of that painful job."

"I'm surprised to see you here, Jade."

William Cobb AKA Talon also showed himself outside of the door. Without the Owl Mask, he couldn't be more apparent. There was the way the he smiled upon Jade that made Lawrence to glance at him with disgust. Was it that very small side smile that he made or was it those sharp killer eyes? He even doubted that the bulky brown armor was enough for agility alone.

"Cobb. I should've thought." Jade darted her eyes away from him. "Is this some sort of a weird reunion party?"

"Who is this guy?" Lawrence said.

"We used to date."

"Then you at least have the idea of what I'm about to say to you." Lawrence put both his hands on his pockets and gave his death stare towards the assassin.

"Don't worry Mr. Crock. I will." Cobb smirked at him as he replied with that cold, monotonous voice. "I'm not a man who would date a dysfunctional whore."

Lawrence's fist was about to hit Cobb's face, but it stopped mid-air as someone quicker managed to grab it. It was a young boy, about 5'3 wearing a brown hoodie and a dark green shirt with a lightning decal. Lawrence stand bewildered as the boy pushed his hand away out of Cobb's trajectory. The hand propelled into the other side and he couldn't get a grasp of it.

"Let's... not do that." The boy said those words in the most hyper-accelerated manner. "He's very important for this mission."

"What mission?" Lawrence said.

"All four of you may not know me." He said.

"Four?" Jade said before scoffing. "Either you miscounted or you need to go back to school, you little brat."

The boy nodded his head towards the shadow in the dark. They glanced around to notice the humanoid figure finally exposing himself into the light. The person emerged from the shadows, exposing the grape purple skin covered throughout his body. His entire body mixed with that purple salamander skin began to hit the lights and into their cone of vision, causing a lot of shivers to be sent down their spines.

Lawrence scoffed. "You brought in a weirdo in the mix."

"A metahuman specifically." He said. " He's going to work with me. Am I right, Sam?"

Sam nodded.

"There are a bunch of metas incoming too." He said. "So Talon, Sportsmaster, and Cheshire, meet Dr. Samuel Register. Called him Zookeeper for a good reason. There's this guy who can transform to any animals. He can too."

"That Green Beast? You're shitting me." Lawrence said. "If he can do that, what can you do?"

"Heard of the Flash? Think of me like that, except I'm not the good guys, and so are you all here." He said. "I took the money of five different bank vaults in Keystone City in just one minute. And just in a matter of fact I took out all of your cellphones."

He pulled out their cellphones out of his pockets and put it down the table. They froze still in place as their electronic devices were shown in the table and not where they were supposed to be. Other than those, he also picked up the briefcase containing the opening price for their services.

"Take one for each." He said. "I could've taken your phone and gave it to the police, but blackmailing isn't one of my fortes. So I pay you all instead. That's 500 grand on each case. And yes, father and daughter also get their shares."

Cobb walked towards the phone. He took it and put it back to his pockets, but his eyes caught on something else. His sight focused on that case, foil padded to prevent detection. The suitcase alone must have been expensive stuff. No briefcase is heavy in the eyes of Talon. He was teased by whatever is inside that thing. He touched it and slid his hand from one side of the end before asking the speedster of what it really is.

"May I?" Cobb asked.

"By all means." He replied.

Cobb opened the said briefcase. The briefcase itself was more than enough to contain $500k. Two clicks of the lock and the container unlocked itself, revealing the pile of hundred dollar bills inside the thing. He picked up one pack of bonded money and glanced at the authenticity of it, whiffing it right on his nose and skimming towards the necessary details.

"Very genuine. I'm impressed." Cobb stated his satisfaction. "I'm intrigued with what you have offered, Mr..."

"Thawne, but I'd love my Inertia alias better." Inertia said.

Lawrence scoffed. "Did they pick this kid up at Arkham?"

"No, I came from the future."

Lawrence shook his head, laughing at what he considered to be a stupid joke.

"So you know who the speedsters are?" Cobb locked his briefcase back.

"Yes and I won't tell you." Inertia said. "Because these guys, they are mine. You guys can take on the rest of the Titans."

"Wait, you're asking us to face against the Titans?" Jade asked. "Put back your million dollar money, kid. I'm not in for a suicide."

As Jade about to leave the place, Inertia popped up right in front of her.

"Oh no, Cheshire." Inertia said. "You shouldn't leave, because you're not dealing with the big guys. Other metas will deal with the big guys like the Kryptonian. Those hundreds of mercs you see outside will also deal with the big guys, that is if they're brave enough so I didn't tell them what they're up against. As the other metas like Superboy or Miss Martian deal with the mercenaries, you deal with someone simpler. I don't know, Batgirl maybe?"

"Batgirl?" Jade smirked. "Nice."

"You're going to pay me five hundred grand to go against the Titans?" Lawrence asked.

"Another five hundred grand will be given if you successfully finished the mission." Inertia said. "The other mercs will have a thousand bucks on their pockets, but you have more privilege and skills than them, all of you here."

"Now the big question here kid is how are you going to convince those hundreds of mercs to do what you want?" Lawrence asked.

"Let me do the thing." Inertia said. "And please. Be my guest and have a seat. Do yourself a favor and make yourself a cup of tea or coffee or something. There's also French Toast if you're hungry. I'll be right back."

From there point on, Inertia ran at super speed and immediately disappeared.

##

The former hero Richard Grayson and former Robin in his universe was chatting with the current Robin Damian Wayne. Richard actually married Barbara Gordon and not only that, but they also have a kid together. Her name is Mary Grayson. She is about as an angel sent from god as you can get, a huge blessing towards the Grayson family. Mary was still seven years old, but she answered those math and science questions faster than a gazelle. Being at the top was one of her many fortes, and there was a look of proudness on her father's smug face.

Damian glanced at the sparkling blue eyes of the little kid. The eyes came from her father, while her straight shampoo commercial worthy red hair came from her mother. Her smile was one of the most contagious thing that the Titans had to experience for a very long time. Not even someone like Damian Wayne had the necessary endurance to endure her medium red hair and her baby face. Right behind him was her father, holding her up in his clutch and rocking her up and down in front of the computer screen.

_"Hey, look at that."_ Dick held his child up and put her on his clutch._ "Look who that is?"_

_"Uncle Damian! Uncle Damian!"_ Her squeaking, high-pitched little voice broke through the speakers as she tried to reach her Uncle through touching the monitor screen.

"Hey, Mary." Damian smiled. "How are you today? Have you done your homework?"

_"I did all my homework yesterday."_ Mary said.

"Really?" Damian said. "How was it?"

_"It wasn't so hard."_ Mary said. _"Will you come over with Auntie Stephanie and Uncle Tim again soon?"_

"Of course we will." Damian smiled back at her. "Now will you–"

"Damian?"

The alien girl called in from the edge of the room's door with her not so high-pitched but very calm, controlled, and angelic voice. Damian took a glance on her and turned his chair.

"Hey, Star." Damian said.

"May I come in?"

_"Is that Auntie Star?"_ Mary belched through the speakers. _"Oh my god! Can I see her?"_

Starfire gasped in surprise and immediately rushed towards the front of the computer and began cheering up as the sight of Mary caught her eyes. She even had to push her lovely boyfriend to do that.

"Mary!" Starfire squealed.

_"Auntie Star!" Mary squealed. _

Can he really handle those two adorable little creatures at the same time?

"I am so happy to see you again!" Starfire began, cheering up and clapping. "I have been waiting for so long to see my dearest adorable little friend!"

_"Oh Auntie Star."_ Mary said. _"You don't know how long have I been waiting for you!"_

"Can you please give me the pleasure of talking with Little Mary?" Starfire begged to her boyfriend. "Please, my love."

Damian smiled. He couldn't resist her requests, especially if it ends with calling him her love.

"Of course, love." Damian replied back. "You can talk to her at any time."

"Thank you so much!" Starfire rushed towards him and hugged him very tight. "I love you!"

"I love you too." Damian replied, releasing the hug. "Now I need to talk to Richard for a bit."

"Of course!" Starfire said. "Forgive me. You can leave now."

_"Kiss her, Uncle Damian!"_ Mary shouted right through the speakers.

_"Uh..uh.. Mary."_ Dick lowered her down from the screen. _"You're not old enough to see that."_

_"Just in the cheeks, please?"_ Mary begged.

"Dick, just let her." Damian said.

As Dick lifted her lovely daughter back to the front of the screen, Damian kissed his lovely girlfriend in the cheeks. She began to blush and shivered down her spine with Damian following the same expression.

"I love you." Damian said.

"I love you too." Starfire said.

_"Aww... you're so cute together!"_ Mary said.

_"Now Mary,"_ Dick said. _"Uncle Damian and I are going to talk about work. You're going to stay here and talk to Auntie Starfire, okay?"_

_"Okay dad." _Mary said. _"Auntie Star, you need to hear what just happened at school!"_

As Starfire took a seat right in front of Damian's personal computer, Damian went outside to find a more personal place to have a chat with. The briefing room was always a good place, especially when no trouble is going on at this moment... supposedly.

Damian turned on the communicators and the screen on the briefing room. Richard Grayson's face are displayed on the monitor. That's where he began to talk about matters that are of the utmost serious.

"So what's going on?" Damian said. "Is there something you need for this call?"

_"So does any of your speedsters–"_

"Damian?"

Out of the blue, Wally West entered the briefing room.

Damian groaned. "I really thought I can have a private chat for just a minute."

"Oh my god." Wally said. "You're not."

"No, I'm not on a dating site." Damian said. "I'm talking with Dick Grayson on a private conference, so can you please don't disturb me for a few seconds?"

"I can't." Wally said. "We've been here for two days and Inertia has been making some troubles behind our back. Five bank vaults in Keystone City were found empty this morning."

_"That's... exactly what I'm trying to inform you." _Dick said. _"Detective Joe West informed me of this strange phenomenon. That money all vanished right at the same time. Can you explain that to me?"_

Damian sighed. "Two speedsters just came into this universe: Impulse and Inertia. Impulse is in our side and is heavily injured, while Inertia isn't. We don't know what this man–"

"Boy." Wally interrupted.

"This... boy is capable of nor do we know if we're capable to fully take him down." Damian continued.

_"Wally, you're a speedster." _Dick said. _"This is the kind of guy you're supposed to be dealing with."_

"Not this time, Dick." Wally shook his head. "I'm not as fast as Impulse, and he got his ass handed to him."

"Then we're going to need the Flash." Damian said.

_"Can't do that." _Dick said.

"Wait, why not?" Wally asked.

_"Barry had some issues he had to deal with in Central City, probably metahumans."_ Dick said.

"Shit." Wally said. "So I'm the only one who can beat him? That's just great."

"Wally, you can do this." Damian said.

_"You're not going to have enough time to practice." _Dick said. _"You'd better use all your time in the world right now or someone's life is going to be at risk."_

"You're right." Wally said. "I'm going to need to practice, and he's not going to just wait for me here."

_"A new suit would also be nice."_ Dick said. _"Yours are about as broken as Autumn leaves."_

Wally gave that a thought. "Hm... a new suit is nice too. So who's the tailor here?"

"Garfield." Damian said. "He has lots of ideas on his head in how to make some very surprisingly functional clothes. I suggest you to get on Stephanie too. She's mostly going to do the dirty work."

"Thanks." Wally said. "I'll be counting on them."

##

"So how did you two meet?" Lawrence put a sip on his coffee as he waited for the evil speedster to finish his business.

"We were on an assassination mission for the Gotham's richest." Jade said. "Every night, we always stumble on each other's back. We sometimes even share our kills. So in one night, I said screw it and we made out in front of the corpse of our target. Just by then, we started dating."

"What about the guards?" Lawrence said. "They didn't see you after that?"

Cobb giggled. "We wouldn't let them. The Court simply does not allow witnesses. I'm fed up to the Court myself, so I took them all single-handedly. We took every pair of eyes for those who dare to get a good glance on my face–"

"Yeah we get it Cobb. You're hot. No one's going to ruin your face. Blah.. blah.. blah." Jade said. "At least that's what I thought of you after you take off that mask. Where the hell were you anyway?"

"Freelancing." Cobb said. "I'd probably start off a normal life somewhere in Blüdhaven. Well, about as normal as Blüdhaven can get."

Lawrence scoffed. "Funny. We're not going to get that life when we're killing peoples for money."

"There's nothing wrong to try." Cobb shrugged.

"How about the boy flash?" Lawrence asked. "What do you think of him?"

"He's quite the rascal, but he surprisingly kept his words." Cobb smiled. "I like him."

"Thanks for the compliment."

Inertia popped up out of nowhere right on the front door with a pizza on his chest. The moment that hyper-accelerated voice got into their ears, they stopped moving and glanced at the weird kid.

"Also, it's not nice talking about someone behind their back." Inertia said.

"Not your choice, asshat." Lawrence said.

"Well beating those guys are certainly a lot of fun. Pizza?" He announced, smiling and moving his half a door high body into the table.

"You got super speed and you spent about ten minutes around and just now you got us a pizza?" Lawrence asked.

"Yeah well, let's just say that Keystone City is not as how I remembered it." Inertia said.

After he put the pizza on the table, he glanced outside towards the window leading to the city of Keystone outside. Those bright lights were probably just momentary distractions, but the kid stared at it for so long and lost on his thoughts. Lawrence kept his eyes focused on him, trying to figure out what was inside that small head of his. A bitter frown escaped the kid's mouth.

"What's the matter?" Lawrence asked. "Lost girlfriend?"

"Not like that." Inertia said. "The year is just... not as how I remembered it. It's not how I envisioned it."

"What are you talking about?" Lawrence asked.

"The future." Inertia said. "I came from a distant future. Spare the 'I don't believe it' dialogue type please."

"I don't even bother asking." Lawrence said. "So you came from the future. So what? What are you doing here? What are you going to do here?"

"I want to change the future." Inertia said. "We weren't supposed to win the war at 2016."

"What war?" Lawrence asked. "The Wall Street Downfall? Is that what you're talking about."

"No." Inertia said. "The Reach Alien Invasion that happened in 2016."

Lawrence cocked up his coffee and sprouted laughter out of his face. "Kid, keep dreaming. There ain't no goddamn alien invasion in 2016. There was only Batman and his team of wannabe superheroes."

"What?" Inertia said. "You're shitting me."

Lawrence dropped his coffee mug right on the table, practically slamming it down. He walked towards the kid. His buffed-up muscles with tight clothes physique just couldn't compared to the kid's stick figure.

"Watch your mouth, kid." Lawrence said. "I'm telling you. There is no goddamn war or a fucking alien invasion in 2016 because I was there babysitting my daughters."

"That can't be." Inertia said. "Did I... did I change the future that much?"

"What, you didn't look when you pop up here?" Lawrence said.

"I... I have no time... I... I need to heal..." Inertia pulled back from the window before an idea got into his head. He grabbed his head and hit his back towards the wall before sliding down, giggling. His giggled went too far to the point of insanity. It didn't stop for a while.

Lawrence and probably the rest of the members felt something tingling on their legs, like a bunch of mosquitos roaming around it. He approached the kid with caution, knowing that super speed will definitely hurt him with that incredible energy he had.

"Uh... are you alright, kid?" Lawrence asked.

"He's so dead." Inertia announced with a grin on his face. "He's so... fucking... dead."


	14. Old Foes

Old Foes

#Part 1#

It's night time. Even during the nights, the gym looked exactly the same, as it was in the basement and not so perfectly illuminated. After producing a gallon of sweat last afternoon, Wally twisted and punched the wooden dummy several times with his normal speed. He needed the technique right. Someone like Inertia would probably be more prepared than preparing a Christmas party.

He had to admit. This universe Robin was no joke. If he really was the son of the brooding Batman, he really showed a lot of the attitude. That cold, emotionless face that has went through so many brutal things in the past gave him the chills. His methods were probably a bit brutal, but then again this was the same kid trained by the League of Assassins.

He was right. The super speed got him reckless so many times. His emotions got him reckless so many times. That thing he had with Vandal Savage was stupid. It was because he couldn't control his emotions. And what better person to handle emotions other than Raven, the emotionless sorceress that has the most amazing of powers.

Raven was on her place as usual during the night and that was the chilling breeze of the rooftop. Wally opened up the rooftop door. He made sure that his hands weren't doing anything stupid to at least crack a noise on the door handle, but it was too late. The shriek of the door's hinge managed to startle the floating, meditating sorceress.

"Give me a good reason why you're here." Raven asked.

"I'm here to meditate."

Raven opened her eyes up at those words. She stood back up away from her crossing legs and floating mode and glanced back at Wally.

"I usually don't do this because Garfield always broke my concentration, but I guess you're alright." Raven said.

"How are you and Garfield?" Wally asked.

"Shouldn't have brought him up."

"So it's complicating." Wally said. "Can't blame you. The green beast just have no idea how to score."

"You have no idea." Raven said, smiling. "So shall we begin?"

"Yeah, sure." Wally said.

"Is there a particular reason why you would meditate?" Raven asked.

"I just want to calm my nerves down." Wally said. "It's been tense, you know, about everything. Bart and Barry jumped into this universe, a speedster supervillain is still out there doing god knows what, and I'm just sitting there on the gym practicing."

"I saw you with Damian sparring on the ring." Raven said. "He kicked you hard."

"Yeah. You're pretty observant for someone with eyes locked on some unreadable books." Wally said.

"I'm very observant." Raven said. "And no, it's not unreadable. It's Ancient Sanskrit."

"Hm... Interesting." Wally said. "So tell me, Raven. Have you read the literary ancient version of the Kama Sutra?"

"If you want to get dirty, I have my fist to talk to you with."

"Okay sorry."

"You're going to be just as annoying as him, aren't you?"

"I promise I won't. At least I didn't come here just to annoy the crap out of you." Wally said.

"Tell me that again." Raven said. "Still don't know why he was in my room last night."

"What did he say?"

Raven darted her wide eyes at him. Her face lowered. Her small smile turned into a deep frown. Her body froze and her eyes stared at him with deep confusion and, perhaps even probably a small bit of terror.

"Never mind. I went through your business enough."

Right after he said that, Raven eased her once widened eyes and focused on something more important. She and Wally sat across each other. Wally crossed his legs, and faced her surprisingly beautiful, pale grey face despite the darkness and the hood always covering her most of the time. Raven also sat in the said position and closed her eyes, putting herself in her concentration.

"So tell me, Wally." Raven said. "What is your real purpose of coming here?"

"I come here because want to control my emotions." Wally said. "The past battles have proven to me that my emotions always got the better of me. It gave me the idea to do it, calm my nerves down, control it as much as I could."

"I hope you're ready." Raven said. "Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Hold it for five seconds. Release."

Wally did exactly that. In his eyes, it was only darkness that he could see. It was only the wind of the night that went through his ears that he could hear. The soothing voice of Raven's monotone really put him into that deep state of trance.

"Your victories are once clouded by your determination to win a fight." Raven said. "Your emotions has detracted you from the most important thing, and you learned that lesson in the most vicious of ways."

"I was lucky." Wally said. "I shouldn't have fought him back then."

"It's not your fault." Raven said. "You have to let it go. The peoples you care about, the peoples that love you, rely on you so much, counted on you for the past years, have never wanted anything else but for you to be successful. They don't want you to grieve over the failure of your past, something that caused a burden on you for so long. Just for two minutes, think of a blank, empty space, a void where you can find peace, away from those who wanted to burn you again. Feel it. Embrace it. It's a powerful force that you had in your body. All you need is to let it out. Breathe, breathe, relax."

Every breath, every air that came out of his nostrils, brought him closer into that state. He wanted to be in that place, a peace that he had never thought he will gain again after splitting away from his friends, his true loved ones. For quite some time, he found himself in that peaceful state.

"I... miss her." Wally said, still keeping his concentration. "I... miss everyone. My friends... my family... the love of my life... they need me."

It was obvious that his past relationship had been bothering him for the past few days. It was obvious that it will break his concentration. How could he be not so strong to resist that?

"Wally, they miss you." Raven said. "But there's nothing you can do about it."

"Should I go back, Raven?" Wally asked. "Should I go where I belong?"

Raven took a deep breath and released it. Even through his closed eyes, he could feel the bitterness coming from her face. "As much as I wanted to answer that, it is not my place to choose."

He was disappointed that she couldn't give the right answer, but he couldn't blame her. He once thought that it's going to be easy just staying here for a while, but after bringing himself into that state, he had a lot of thoughts on his head he wondered how many friends he had left.

That's where he heard the annoying beep, that annoying beep that signified nothing but innocent peoples in danger. There was a good reason why they made the beep annoying, just so that the Titans could respond to such tones.

Wally and Raven opened their eyes and responded into that emergency signal. They didn't say anything more. They just ran towards the briefing room to find out what has been causing the problem lately. While Raven phased through the bottom floors all the way into the briefing room, Wally used his super speed to get there.

Inside the briefing room was the entire Titans member. Damian, Tim, and Stephanie observed on the monitor checking up on the current situation. Wally didn't even bother to look at the holographic monitor. He kept his focus on Damian and let him to tell about the situation.

"What's going on?" Wally asked.

Damian gave his answer. "A massacre in the Keystone City Hall."

"Inertia?" Wally asked.

"Worse." Damian said.

"An entire group of mercenaries just caused a riot there." Tim said. "I recognized three of them. That's William Cobb, Jade Nguyen, and Lawrence Crock."

"Hi, Cheshire." Stephanie cracked her knuckles. "Can't wait to send you back to Wonderland. I'll be at the hangar guys."

"Wait." Wally paused on the last name. "Lawrence Crock?"

"Yup." Tim said. "He's a dangerous mercenary. He's been operating in Gotham City for the past five years as a freelancer. What's the matter with him?"

"He's..." Wally paused. He really had to choose if he wanted to tell the Titans about the truth. "I'm going to get him."

"Wally!" Damian shouted at him, but he already went out away with super speed.

"Something tells me that he knew him in a personal level." Raven said. "So much for meditation."

Garfield glanced at a weird aberration at one of the screen in the form of a purple panther. "Uh... guys, I've never seen a purple panther before in my life."

"Looks like Beast Boy got himself a rival." Raven said.

"This is high priority." Damian said. "All of you suit up and get to the ship right now. Metahumans might come and Inertia might have a bigger plan than a massacre."

##

Why didn't he ever think of that before? Of course. Artemis should've been a part of this world. She should have. She should have existed on this world the same way the Earth and the star existed. He was so ignorant to think that she could've existed. He was caught so much on the Reach and Inertia he didn't even bother to look for her.

Kid Flash ran as fast as he could to the crime scene. Keystone City Hall were just about as big as any other city halls could get, and it couldn't get any worse than this. The police officers being put in that situation were being slaughtered by an angry purple panther. Not a shot managed to get through the thing. Not a shot managed to penetrate its thick skin. Just in a scale of ten seconds, three SWAT members were brutally scratched and mangled.

Bloods have spilled and littered the once beautiful view of the City Hall. The panther kept on going and going. Lawrence Crock was still out there and he needed to find him, but first, the purple panther.

Kid Flash ran towards the purple panther just moments before he could mangle another SWAT officer. He managed to punch the thing in super speed, causing a sonic boom and propelled even the barrage of bullets coming towards the monstrous thing. The purple panther propelled into the ground, slamming its body a few times and ended up destroying a police car and flipping it over in the process.

To keep his identity concealed, Kid Flash ran away from the battlefield to go and find Lawrence Crock. If he is in this universe, then Artemis had to be in here too.

After having a moment to search the area for the sight of Lawrence Crock, there he is inside the City Hall with the major. The bulky physique, the hockey mask, that intimidating look, no more doubts. It was him, and he finally got hands on him.

Kid Flash used his super speed to move him away from the City Hall Office and into the outside as far away as possible. He pushed him down a concrete wall in a back alley in god knows where. That's where he began asking the questions.

_"Kid Flash," _Robin suddenly called. _"If you're listening, you shouldn't just barge into the battlefield. We've talked about recklessness before."_

"I found Lawrence." Kid Flash said. "I'll be quick. Don't worry."

_"Kid Flash...!?"_

Kid Flash closed off the transmission. Lawrence stood up, feeling a little dizzy after that little super speed event he got.

"What the hell was that?" Lawrence asked. "You got a different costume or something?"

"Lawrence Crock." Kid Flash began. "What are you doing in the city hall?"

"Oh, you're one of them." Lawrence said. "None of your business, kid."

"I can just put you in prison at super speed." Kid Flash said. "You can't do anything else. You're going to answer me right now."

"Answer what?" Lawrence asked.

"Where is Artemis?"

Lawrence flinched. Through his mask, Kid Flash could see his broadened eyes. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Don't lie!"

Kid Flash pushed him into the wall at super speed. The force was enough to cause a few dusts coming out of the wall. He slid down the wall, helpless against the speed. Kid Flash lifted him back up to speed.

"You know where she is!" Kid Flash said. "Tell me where she is right now!"

"Fine." Lawrence said. "She's in Star City, changed her name to Cissie Jones. Don't know why, but you touch her and I'll send the other speedster to tear you up into pieces."

"What have you done to her?" Kid Flash asked. "Why is she there?"

"She hates me." Lawrence said. "She hates my lifestyle. Her mother wants her to be successful, a good girl, not as bad her big bad daddy even though she's also a big bad girl. She's grown from birth to hate me. I don't care a single bit. She's still my daughter. I still love her. Put your hand on her and I'm going to make sure you suffer for that."

Kid Flash stumbled back. He began to resent that innocent, honest face he made about his daughter. How can he be so honest? How can he be so modest about it?

"I should've said that to you." Kid Flash said.

"Oh gee. Thanks for coming late." Lawrence said that all the sudden. "If you mind, would you just kick his ass already?"

Kid Flash widened his eyes. He's right behind him. He didn't even bother to look back. The air got hotter there. It was probably thanks to him getting closer and being one of the peoples got caught in speed family. Or it was probably the green color that is so away from the spectrum it caused a disturbance in the speed force.

He didn't really want to make that reference on his head.

"Hey, Kid Flash." Inertia said. "You want to play?"

That's where Kid Flash stroke his first punch, but Inertia managed to dodge it away. He then made a quick chase around town. Kid Flash immediately chased him down and made sure that the horrible things that he did right now won't happen again.


	15. Random Raid

Old Foes

#Part 2#

All that was left is Lawrence in the back alley in the middle of nowhere. After taking a walk and just after he's about to quit off into the main street, his steps were stopped by an arrow piercing the ground. The arrow's fall indicated someone from above. Just when he could take a glance on who had been shooting him, another shot was made. This time, it came from the alley right behind him and was heading towards him.

Unfortunately he was quick enough to nudge his head to dodge the shot. Instead of hitting him, it managed to hit the door of the right side of a minivan. Usually, that kind of arrowhead would break through and pierce through the said van, but that energy arrow managed to somehow lift the two right wheels off of the ground and flipped the damn thing over into its left side.

"What in the name of..."

"Hammerhead Arrows." Speedy took a barely visible energy arrow and charged her shot. "You want a taste?"

"In your dreams, bitch."

She released her grip on the string. The arrow went towards him, but he was able to dodge it out into the right. Once again, it managed to hit the van, this time severely breaking the machinery under it and pushing it into the half part of one lane.

Speedy ran towards where Sportsmaster was going to in his direction. She was unable to find her to the right, only because he was hiding right on the top. Sportsmaster dropped in to make an aerial attack, but she was able to step back and dodge it.

He continued his assault with a barrage of punches, but Speedy was able to recognize his pattern and get the upper hand. One punch got him in the stomach. One got through his chin. The other one wasn't a punch, but an aerial kick in midair. Speedy did a backflip and kicked him in the face. He propelled down the ground and grabbed his hurt face.

Before he could wake up again, Speedy got him on her bow's line of sight. However, a bigger trouble came in the form of a mercenary charging towards her from behind. Speedy knew it was trouble and turned around to shoot an energy Hammerhead shot towards the said mercenary. The mercenary propelled into the back about several feet away and the back of his head managed to hit a lamp post, knocking him out.

Sportsmaster was quick to regain his consciousness. He was able to grab Speedy and threw her into the corner of a wall. His throwing force managed to break through that sturdy concrete fortification. Speedy slammed herself into the ground, groaning on the pain, but she was able to stand back up.

"We're going to have a lot of fun here, lady."

##

He can't believe it. A purple panther who had snake poison on his hands. It was enough to kill a guard with a scratch, let alone scratching it until there was nothing left. Beast Boy got a glance on him and asked him out for a fight.

"Hey!" Beast Boy said. "Fight someone at your size!"

The purple panther transformed himself back into a human form. The said transformation has produced a human with purple skin and pointy ears, just like Beast Boy except purple and a slightly different face, a face that he strangely recognized.

"Dr. Sam?"

Sam didn't speak and just charged himself back towards him at his human form. He jumped to make an aerial slash on his claws, but Beast Boy was able to dodge that. A few slashes of claws were attempted towards the green beast, but he was able to block and dodge every attack from him. Despite his abilities, he was clearly not an expert at hand-to-hand combat, and it was made fully aware this time.

Beast Boy countered one of his attacks by punching him several times in the torso, an area that he exposed after those countless attempts on trying to slash him. He managed to push him back into the ground. To prevent more casualties on the SWAT Team's end, Beast Boy grew wings on his back, still maintaining his human form, and carried him all the way into the rooftop where he dropped him there.

After doing so, he made a rough landing and turned his face towards Dr. Sam who regained his consciousness.

"You're not going to hurt any more cops." Beast Boy said, still maintaining his human form. "You hear me?"

Dr. Sam's eyes were in reverse color. His teeth were sharp. His hair grew longer than it should've been. He had turned his beast mode on. The fact that he could do that and didn't use it against the cops were just one horrible thing after the other. This is probably what they meant about Beast Wars, but he didn't believe it.

##

The other two mercenaries were Cheshire and Talon. They were guarding the City Hall with a few mercenaries with the City Mayor in Hostage. The riot in front of the City Hall could never shut up. Barrage of gunshots from the mercenaries and the City's own Riot Team were responsible to be the cause of that white noise.

Thankfully the other Titans were quick and managed to dispatch the entire mercenary team. Miss Martian got all of their weapons floating in the air and breaking them into pieces while still maintaining her invisible form. Wonder Girl and Superboy stood in front of the City Hall, making sure no one is coming in. Red Robin secured the interior of the City Hall, escorting trapped civilians and fighting other mercs inside it. Cyborg and Blue Beetle contained the said riot so that they managed to capture all of these hired crooks to prison. Raven used her healing abilities to heal any injured cops as much as she could.

Robin and Batgirl climbed up to the City Hall building and was about to storm through the back window, fighting someone like Talon and Cheshire, a worthy opponent and a perfect match.

"I got Cheshire." Batgirl said. "I really want to fight that cat-faced bitch."

"Then it's my time to face an old enemy." Robin said. "You're ready?"

"I'm as ready as I could." Batgirl said.

"Let's storm the place." Robin said. "Three... two... one..."

Using the ropes tied on the edge of the rooftop, Robin and Batgirl stormed in through the front window, kicking two mercenaries away. All that was left is Talon and Cheshire. Robin and Batgirl handled each of them respectively.

Batgirl immediately launched her attack towards Cheshire. She took her three-sectional staff and spun it around to attack her. Thanks to her acrobatics, Cheshire was able to dodge it and flip around to get away from Batgirl's reach. Batgirl slammed down one end of the staff into the floor, but Cheshire dodged it and took her double sai swords to counter it. Batgirl was able to block it away and the two faced each other.

"Oh this is going to be fun." Cheshire gave her comments.

"You bet." Batgirl replied. "I've been wanting to fight you for years."

"Then do your worst."

The two released their grips and launched their attacks towards each other, both were struggling vigorously to make sure that they don't get hit, but the chance of them dodging each other's attacks were outweighed by the chance of them getting hit by it, with Batgirl suffered slightly more than her enemy.

Batgirl suffered through a few slashes, but thankfully her armor was capable of blocking the assassin's sharp sai from going through. It was still hurt though, and it carved some blood in the weak points of the armor. Cheshire didn't suffer any better. Those hits from the staff managed to cause some serious dizziness that caught her off guard. Not to mention a few hard slams on her chest probably caused some serious contusion.

Let's see if the two male birds managed to get a better fate.

##

Nope. It didn't get better. Robin used his dual tonfas against Talon's double sai. Despite their incredible acrobatic skills, they were still unable to find a good win. Again, the double sai couldn't break through Robin's armor at least all the way through. Robin's dual tonfas managed to caught him off guard as the power was very strong for something that light. Not to mention Robin's kicks were extremely deadly.

Their fight ended up in some sort of an office room with two large windows facing the front side of the City Hall. Talon was able to kick Robin into a locked door and breaking it through, causing the door to get off its hinges and the boy wonder to fell down. Talon jabbed his sai towards a slouching Robin, but Robin was able to roll back avoiding the jab. The jab instead went through the wooden door.

Talon threw his sai towards Robin. He managed to nudge his head to the right, just missing the flipping sai that also managed to pierce through the wall. Talon picked up the sai that he stabbed on the door and swung it towards Robin. If it was really his intentions to distract him, he almost got himself stabbed.

Talon did not give up. His energy and adrenaline were high by this point. He kept swinging and slicing. Robin managed to get a hold of his speed, but in turn he didn't have a lot of chances to counter. But when he did have that chance, he countered hard.

After grabbing the sai that was stuck in the wall, Talon returned back to his dual-wielding habit, but that was his weak point. The dual-wielding assassin lost his concentration at one of the end. This allowed Robin to sneak in a slam of a tonfa down to his forehead. That really buzzed him out for a few seconds.

Robin didn't waste any more time. He did a kick sweep, causing Talon to lose balance and slammed himself on the back. Robin spun himself on the air and landed his entire back feet towards his chest, practically stomping him. He groaned in pain, but that groan turned into laughter.

"That was amazing." Talon said. "You've improved significantly since we first met."

"Yeah." Robin said. "The last time we met ended up with you massacring the entire Court of Owls."

"Never liked them." Talon said. "But at least I still have my fighting."

He took his sai and was about to jab it on Robin's foot, but Robin was quicker and lifted it up. He not only managed to dodge the jab. He also managed to stomp his feet to his hand.

"What are you doing here?" Robin asked.

"Nothing." Talon said. "I'm not the bad guy here. I'm just following orders from your speedster friend."

"Inertia." Robin said. "Why is he doing all of this?"

"I don't recall." Talon said. "There was a burning passion inside that boy. There's nothing more to signify revenge than his eyes. I can see that."

"Why did he want revenge?" Robin asked. "What does he want?"

"Nothing." Talon said. "It was all just to cause some serious chaos and massacre. Peoples love that. Peoples want that, especially when it's the City Hall that got hit."

Robin punched him in the face once, knocking him unconscious. Even with his eyes closed,

He should've expected that the speedster had an element of surprise on his back. A huge roar came out from the front of the City Hall. Before he could even check out what's going on outside through the window, a SWAT officer got thrown and broke through it. The officer fell down and crashed towards the table. He was beyond unconscious. His lower abdomen got hit by the side of the office table in a force powerful enough to break a window. That's going to break a lot of bones.

"What's going on in there?" Robin called.

_"I don't know how." _Superboy said._ "Killer Croc is on the loose."_

"What?" Robin shouted. "I thought we got him!"

"A silent break in at Belle Rave."

The green speedster finally decided to show himself in the face. He was every bit just like an evil Bart Allen. The looks, the deceiving age, even the green costume was familiar.

"You're breaking all the prisoners at Belle Rave?" Robin asked.

"Not all of them." Inertia said. "I don't want total chaos in your city, don't I?"

Robin threw a Hammerhead disc towards the green speedster. Despite it running at full speed, the disc missed. Inertia countered by running towards Robin at super speed and pushed him out. Robin crashed into a wall and fell down the floor.

"You're seriously not going to fight me." Inertia said.

"No." Robin rose up. "But I'm going to outsmart you."

The previous flying disc was actually acting like a boomerang of some sort. The disc propelled back into Inertia, but Inertia was still faster on his toes. He turned around and was about to catch the said disc, but it was actually an energy disc.

The disc was heading towards his head. He tried to catch the thing, but it was a mistake. As his palm hit the thing, the disc dissipated into small particles. The particles were enough of a force to propel his entire back hand into his head. The power was strong enough to make him back flip once in the air.

Robin caught his head midair and reversed the back flip into a front flip, as he pushed his entire head into the opposite direction and slammed it down towards the office table. The office table broke into pieces and Inertia should probably have lots of broken bones on his head.

Before he could regain his consciousness, Robin jumped out of the window. Using his cape, he was able to slowly fall down two stories down below. He was right. Superboy got a hold on the green reptilian. Neither managed to get a hold on each other's nerves, but Robin had a tactic on his head.

"Superboy!" Robin shouted. "Gravity!"

Superboy recognized the command. He broke the hold and punched the humanoid reptilian on the face and made him to face Robin. Robin threw two energy discs towards the thing. Both managed to hit him with a force enough to make him stumble back and groan. Robin then put his tonfa grips together, forming an H letter. Each tonfa had propulsion shots, but when combined, it will cause a force enough to harm Superman.

The propulsion shot was made towards Killer Croc. Killer Croc got hit with the propulsion beams, causing him to drop down the floor. Superboy made a super jump in the air. He fell into the ground with his hand on Killer Croc's head. The Earth's gravity managed to make the punch powerful enough to knock out someone like Killer Croc.

"Great." Superboy said. "Now what?"

_"Guys." _Beast Boy reported from the radio. _"I almost got my hands on the purple panther guy. He's gone. It looks like the speedster got him."_

_"I got the same too." _Speedy reported. _"I almost got Sportsmaster, but I had to retreat. Captain Cold and Heat Wave came in to save the sorry bastard."_

_"Same here." _Batgirl reported. _"The cat just vanished out of thin air." _

"We're not the only one." Superboy said.

The hundreds of mercs that gathered on the front line of the defense just mysteriously disappeared as well. Inertia probably caught all of them, but why is he on the loose? Where's Wally in all of this?

"Kid Flash!" Robin asked. "Where are you?"

_"I'm sorry, Robin." _Kid Flash replied. _"I chased him all the way to Belle Rave. I barely managed to get myself out, let alone fighting a loose Grodd."_

Robin flinched. "Did you manage to take care of the situation there?"

_"I'm done." _Kid Flash said, exhausted. _"I'm so glad it's done. I hope it's the same thing there."_

"Bad news KF. It's not." Robin said. "Let's get back. We got a lot of debriefing to follow."


	16. Artemis

All the Titans member sat on their briefing room reviewing what just happened on this mission alone. Their faces were bitter like hearing the news of a dead relative in a cold weather. The Titans might not suffer by deaths through the last event, but the SWAT teams certainly did.

"We couldn't save those peoples." Damian said. "To us, they're the real heroes. They stood up fighting against something they know they couldn't fight, but they fought anyway. Let this be an example for us, for those who are ready to face death in order to save the peoples and the world they love. The Titans might be a platform for us to gather around and be together, but our true purpose here is to save the world. No matter what happens, we're going to save it."

Those are not the kind of speech that rose up the morale of the team. The villains escaped, lots of people died, and the best that the Titans could do was to send a recently-escaped convict back to prison.

"I have notified the Belle Rave prison to install force fields to prevent any more speedsters coming in and out." Damian said. "You won't hear a word from Croc or Grodd again, but Snart and Rory are still out there."

"Inertia, Lawrence, Jade, they're still out there too." Wally said.

"Why did you come first towards Lawrence?" Damian said. "If you have a personal vendetta against him, I'd suggest you to keep it back. It's only going to make things worse."

"I'm trying to pull Inertia away from hiding." Wally said. "He's a lot more dangerous if he joined the battle. No one can beat his speed. Even if Robin managed to slam him down in a table at super speed, he's not easy to give up."

"I agree." Tim said. "He wasn't entirely reckless, Damian."

Damian lowered his head, understanding the entire situation but kept his attitude on check for the whole thing. "What did you find about Inertia?"

"All of that massacre was just to get Bart out of the Titans Tower." Wally said. "He knew that Bart is hiding somewhere, but he didn't know the Titans Tower. He just came into this universe and is probably looking for information about it. All of that was just to make sure that Bart came out so that he could kill him."

"What's his problem?" Stephanie asked. "Why would he want to kill Bart?"

"Because he sent him into this universe." Wally said. "Inertia never wanted that. He wanted to return back to where he belong: The future of my universe. He didn't get hit by the Reach devices, but he was running with Bart, so he might get caught in that field and get stranded here too."

"Bart is not fully healed yet." Damian said. "So some of us needs to stay here while others need to be on the offense."

"Does the public know about the location of this tower?" Wally asked.

"No." Damian said. "It's a large tower, but we always keep it on hiding."

"How can you do that?" Wally said.

"Scrambling the radar signal, cloaking materials, a lot of things." Stephanie said. "It's much more advanced than you can think of."

"Good." Wally said. "So can you hide Bart for just a week before he can get back up to speed?"

"That's the idea." Damian said. "I'm going to make some calls to warn about the speedster supervillain. As usual, no one gets outside of the tower without my permission. Dismissed."

Without his permission, huh?

As the rest of the Titans did exactly what he said, Wally walked in towards the Boy Wonder and began asking some questions. "Damian, I need to leave."

"Is this about Artemis Crock?"

There was a pause on Wally's end as he was about to say a few words confirming his suspicions. "Yeah. Why?"

"I have the rights to know each and every word of my teammates that defy my orders." Damian said. "This Artemis girl, Suzanne King or Cissie as she calls herself now, is very clever. Her mother, Paula Crock, now Paula King, had a lot of criminal records and various connections in the past. One of those connections are of a friend that is capable of completely disappearing into the void and reappear into new beings."

"Wow." Wally said.

"It's quite incredible that the Artemis that you were referring to is a top archer in the Olympics." Damian said. "She won gold several times in the past couple of years. Not only that, but she's an expert martial artist. I even once wanted to consider her to be a potential Titans member, but there's a good reason why she's retired from the Olympics and a better reason why she doesn't want to join up with the team."

"Why is that?" Wally asked.

"Her mother has a heart condition." Damian said. "So she opened up a small laundry business in Star City, which surprisingly turned out okay, and even if it wasn't, she's receiving pension money from her retirement."

"But she's in no way in hell poor, right?" Wally said.

"No she's not." Damian said.

"They're probably in danger, Damian." Wally said. "I've asked her father about her location. Inertia probably heard the whole conversation and probably going to use her in some ways."

"Then you should be there." Damian said. "You're going there for an undercover mission."

"Undercover?"

"Just pretend that you're someone else in there." Damian said. "Keep your original identity and everything, but don't reveal that you're Kid Flash. She's staying up at an apartment. Pack your bags and move in there. Don't leave any traces of going back into the Titans. You're going to need a real life to go back after all of this too, right?"

"So you're saying that I should stay at a crappy apartment somewhere in the ghettos?"

"With Artemis, yes." Damian said. "Isn't that a perk?"

"I'd consider it a forced perk, but a perk is nice." Wally said. "Anyway, I'll be packing up my bags and investigate further while you just train yourself or something."

"Of course." Damian said. "Good luck, Wally."

##

Wally turned on his civilian outfit and ran all the way to Star City where he would find Artemis or Cissie inside one of the projects. As Wally entered the projects building that Suzanne was in, he was greeted with the unhealthy odor of smokes and weed the other civilians had to deal with. The wallpapers were scratched up, covered in graffiti if extremely unlucky. Every door had their markings and numbers, but some are unfortunate enough to suffer through the graffiti treatment.

The moving in process didn't even take a while. All he needed was just to sign in a few papers and he got himself an apartment, right across Cissie's apartment even. That was an extra perk above anything. Not only that, but the hallway, the room, and even the smell was totally better than the bottom floor. Maybe there was a good reason why this was called the upper class.

It's been only a few hours since he moved in and he forgot that the recent clothes that he just bought from the mall really needed some serious treatment of the most exquisite detergents. He needed to make sure that everything he's doing at this moment was just to pretend like he's a newbie and no one else. After all, he needed a little bit more convincing on the other resident's part.

Wally took the laundry bag out of his room. Right across him was Cissie's room. Perhaps it was no hurtful to just knock in and visit. He heard that her mother was in there just chilling on her wheelchair. It was probably for the best. He visited inside just in case if the other family had the luxury to have some washing machines, but perhaps that wasn't really going to be the case.

"Excuse me?" He knocked in.

Paula opened the door. His former mother-in-law looked exactly like his former mother in law in the other universe. Her facial structure, her sharp narrow eyes, and her Chinese Accent was more than he could need for her.

"I'm coming!" Paula opened the door and greeted him. "Ah, I'm sorry. I was cleaning some dishes."

"That's fine." Wally said. "I just moved in and I noticed that my room doesn't have a washing machine. Do you mind if I borrow one?"

"Well, you are unfortunate." Paula said. "I don't have one too."

"That's really sad." Wally said. "So where did you wash your clothes?"

"Well, if Cissie was too lazy to go to the laundry, she always washes them herself in a bucket." Paula said. "There is a laundromat just a half minute walk from here. Once you get out, turn right and straight ahead. My daughter is there to deal with some of our laundries too."

"Thank you." Wally put his laundries down and offered his hand. "Oh and uh, Wally West. I figure that now we're neighbors, we should know each other out."

"It's Paula. Nice to meet you." She shook Wally's hand back. "So what brings you here in Star City?"

"Well, I'm just starting a new life here." Wally began. "I had someone in Central City, a girlfriend, but something happened."

"What happened to her?"

"She's dead."

Paula widened her eyes. "Oh, I'm so sorry."

"She's buried here in Star City. She's the closest thing to a family that I got to this day." Wally said. "Remember the Brotherhood Attack? Yeah that wasn't so great."

"The Brotherhood is an imbecile." Paula said. "I cannot believe that they would do such horrible things. All they can do is to bring bad memories."

"Have you met them?"

"Oh believe me I have." Paula said. "If not for the Brotherhood attack, my daughter wouldn't stop in the Olympics."

"Olympics?" Wally said. "Your daughter was in the Olympics?"

"Archery." Paula said. "No one paid attention to archery before, but she won gold several times. Now she's here taking care of me after hearing the Brotherhood attacking Star City."

"Wow. She abandoned her career just for you?"

"Not necessarily." Paula said. "She's only planning to retire for a full year before going back into the game again. She receives pension money every month."

"That must have been a lot of money."

"Yes." Paula said. "I'm so very proud of her. She's not like her father or her sister."

"Let me guess. They're really bad peoples."

"They're awful peoples." Paula said. "I wish that I didn't step on their lines ever again."

"Well, I won't talk about them anymore." Wally said. "I'm sorry. I gotta go. I need to launder in some clothes."

"It's good talking with you, Wally." Paula said. "If you want, maybe you can stay in here for dinner?"

"Oh. No I'm fine." Wally said. "I can have dinner alone."

"I insist." Paula said. "You just came in here after all. Consider it a welcome party."

"Do you do welcome parties to everyone coming into the apartment?"

Paula giggled. "Probably. We rarely have new peoples come around and that means no welcome dinner for anyone."

"Well, the only apartment I can afford with my money so, yeah." Wally said. "Okay, I'll come in."

"Thank you." Paula said. "Oh I forgot. Can you please call in my daughter Cissie and ask her to hurry up?"

"I got it."

##

It only took two minutes to get from the projects to the laundry shop. The moment he entered that room, there weren't a lot of peoples inside. Peoples usually launder their clothes off when the sun shines. So there are only a few peoples using the Laundromat.

Perhaps there was a better way to make things more believable. He's only going to make things slightly implausible if he didn't come here with a laundry. Wally used his super speed to get to a nearby department store to buy some new clothes for him to try on. The super speed managed to get him a bunch of clothes ready to be laundered.

After all, recently bought clothes should be laundered the first time.

Wally arrived with a bag of freshly bought clothes from the department store. He knew that he could've taken the changes from the cashier in super speed, but that would be too obvious. So he went in like every normal people trying to do laundries do.

He went into the cashier to get some changes. The cashier was looking down, probably reading a book.

"Excuse me." Wally said. "I need some change."

And there she is.

He couldn't even move. The force of gravity is pulling him down so much his feet felt like ants crawling on every part of it. The organs lower on his stomach felt like if it was swarmed by thousands of butterflies. He struggled to even get a hold of the basket carrying his laundry. He struggled to get that urge of hugging her and kissing her out of nowhere. And now his eyes grew wider than Kim Kardashian's ass. Bad analogy, Wally! Bad analogy! It's not like he ever liked that anyway.

How couldn't he have that reaction? Her long blonde hair was tied up into a ponytail. Her soft plump lips just upped his desire to join it with his own. Her dark grey eyes were shooting sharp right towards him. He wanted to faint, but he couldn't. He never wanted to look abnormal in front of others, even considering how abnormal he got thanks to his super speed.

"Uh... hello?" Artemis... Cissie snapped Wally back to reality. God, even her voice sounded so familiar. "Anything I can do?"

"Uh... yeah." Wally said. "I'm going to need some change, please?"

"Sure."

Wally gave her some money and Cissie countered by taking out her cash register and getting some coins out. Even just the simple act of moving her hand triggered a lot of hormones inside his body. He was not quite sure why that didn't happen the first time they met. It probably grew on him overtime, but still.

"Thanks." Wally said.

Perhaps in one way or the other, playing out a scene and lying wasn't exactly one of his expertise. Wally could launder most of his clothes by himself in just about a minute thanks to his super speed. He was surprised that the Team didn't ask him to do such industrious work. Just looking at the laundromat twirling and rotating one way after the other is just painful.

Wally sat down in front of his laundromat, wondering if something like that could ever stop. The twirling of the clothes of his laundromat reminded him of a similar event, somewhere out of this world where he had to run around a place dodging shots after another, destroying machines with his super speed despite him not being as fast as the other speedsters. It was his will and determination that got him here in the first place. He couldn't blame anyone else, because there was only him to blame for all of this.

The longer he moved his eyes away from her, the longer he kept focusing on those twirling tumblers, the more painful it felt inside. All he wanted was just to embrace her back, but this wasn't Ted Kord level. He gave half of his entire life to her. A part of him was missing and he was ready to just get it back, but he couldn't. He never wanted to look awkward in front of her. He had to look pained, desperate, and longing for death more than anything. He didn't even bother to swivel in the coins like he used to do to the poker chips. He just sat on the chair, eyes fixated on the laundry bag that he carried.

What he didn't realize was that he kept glancing at the plain red shirt that he bought last time for almost a minute. That really took someone like Cissie to notice something like that. She stood up from her place and walked towards him.

"Hey." Cissie said. "If you're going to stare at that thing, you might as well as put it in an art museum."


	17. Cissie Jones

Wally glanced back at Cissie, whom was very close to him to the point where he could feel her minty breath.

"I'm sorry." Wally said. "Some tragic war flashback."

"Oh." Cissie said. "Mind if I ask you what war?"

Wally went into a nearby laundromat and inserted a coin. He opened it and put up some clothes inside before giving his answer.

"The Brotherhood."

"Holy crap." Cissie said. "You're fighting in that?"

"No, I'm just a civilian." Wally said. "I lost my girlfriend in Central City."

"Oh my god. I'm so sorry." Cissie said.

"It's fine." Wally said. "Cissie, right?"

Cissie paused for a bit and raised her eyebrows. "Yeah. How do you know?"

"I just moved in right across your room." Wally said. "I met your mother when I'm asking for a laundry machine. She asked me to go here instead and she also asked you to hurry up."

"Yeah well can't do that." Cissie said. "I own the laundromat so..."

"Wait, you own... this?"

"Yup." Cissie gave a warm smirk. "Here, let me help you with those."

Cissie picked up some of his clothes from the laundry bag and put it on the laundromat. He didn't really need her help, although it would be greatly appreciated if she did.

"So what are you doing here in Star City?" Cissie said.

"I'm starting over." Wally said. "Central City had been difficult in the past couple of weeks. I had to move on, you know?"

"Well, I'm glad that you're making a progress now." Cissie said. "It's hard to move on from that sort of thing."

"So you ever had that experience?"

"Yeah, once." Cissie said. "Back then, my life was just riddled with crimes and corruption. We were very desperate back then, so we're sort of roll with it and get ended up punished for it. I lost a friend once and, well, she's a great friend, and it's a shame that I had to lose her."

"I'm sorry." Wally said.

"It's fine." Cissie said. "It's been like, I don't know, five years since all of that? Star City had been quite a bitch to live in. I'm surprised you chose this one."

"I feel safe when the Star City vigilante is beating up criminals at night."

"You mean Green Arrow?" Cissie said. "Well, vigilante is right I guess. I wouldn't really call him a hero though. Superman is a hero. All he does is beat up criminals and go back at home with bruises on his face."

"You didn't like him?"

"Actually I love that guy." Cissie said. "If anything, I should be thankful. The guy took down my landlord, turned out to be a corrupt bastard. Not surprising, really."

Wally laughed. "Well, that's justice for you."

"Even then, you're still not going to be completely safe here." Cissie had done piling up all of his clothes into the laundromat. "These look new."

"Like I said, new life."

Cissie giggled. "Maybe too new, if I'd say. Anyway uh... do you mind helping me with some of mine?"

"Oh sure." Wally said. "I'm happy to help."

##

It was almost night time. Cissie had the honor to walk Wally in back to his apartment. Since he just moved in, his other stuff weren't really organized well. Cissie offered him to organize some of the stuff for him and she did. There were lots of boxes with lots of his personal appliances, and a bunch of memories left on his old world.

He had one photo album consisting of his one long lost girlfriend. The cover was dark black, thick, strong, and had shiny silver engravings on them written 'Alice Conway' 2008-2027. It was about the size of a small novel andd it only had a few photos in it, but oh boy those were really powerful photos.

"Sweet memories." Cissie said. "This is your girlfriend?"

"Yup." Wally said. "She looks a whole lot like you, doesn't she?"

She noticed how much similarities that his girlfriend and she had. At first, it was kind of fascinating. In most of her photos, she had long blonde hair, but she could imagine having those long hair when she's not putting it on a ponytail. The more she looked at the photos, the more chilling the entire environment get. It wasn't just dangerously similar. It was like... an exact clone.

"Holy crap." Cissie said. "I guess now I get it why you acted a little weird then."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Wally approached her. "You have no idea how much she meant to me. When I saw you there, you reminded me of her. I honestly thought I could just get away, but I calmed my nerves down. I'm here to move on, not to cause more drama."

"Thank god you didn't." Cissie said. "I'm surprised you can get a little bit more control. I mean... you look so happy together. It must have been painful to see those pictures again."

"Oh, like you wouldn't believe." Wally said. "We've been together for five years. Of course we're happy. She just hit 19, and yet I'm not afraid to propose to her at any given time."

"Wait, you've been with her since... Middle School?"

"Yup." Wally said. "We're practically living a few blocks away. So even if we're not at the same High School, which surprisingly we were, we could still hang out together."

"That's very sweet."

"Yeah." Wally sighed. "I miss her."

"How was she like?" Cissie said. "Is she tall, is she smart?"

"She's real nice. I was a bit taller than her but she's pretty tall back then too." Wally said. "She's very smart at everything that she does. She's also a real tough girl. She was taught martial arts when she was five. She grew up with some troubled family and her parents didn't help much either. That's why she always went to me. That's how we got closer. I know that her father doesn't approve us, but this is the same guy wasting his life on alcohol and beating peoples up."

Cissie scoffed. "That sounds a lot like my dad, whom thankfully I don't have to deal with right now."

"Well, that's great." Wally said. "One less angry dad to deal with."

Cissie giggled. "You know, I honestly didn't really do this much but do you mind if you uh... join me for a dinner? As... friends of course."

Wally raised his eyebrows and scoffed. "Actually your mom offered me exactly the same thing."

"Oh..." Cissie said before realizing something rather bizarre. "Oh!"

Wally laughed. "Not like that. I mean just... friendly dinner, you know?"

Cissie sighed in relief. "You're really scaring me right there."

"I wouldn't date your mom. That'd be crazy." Wally said. "You... well..."

"What?"

"I... I might consider it." Wally said.

"What, you're not sure enough?"

"I don't know." Wally said. "Should I trust you?"

"What, me looking like your girlfriend wasn't enough?"

"I don't trust copycats."

"Copycat..." Cissie laughed. "It's just a dinner, Wally. It's not like I'm going to poison you and put you in a dumpster."

"Which you might. We don't know." Wally said, which caused her to groan in annoyance. He laughed and was amused of her reply and gave a more serious answer. "Seriously, I'll be there. Take care of yourself for now."

Cissie smiled. "Thanks."

##

She wasn't quite sure who to blame on. Was it Donna Troy or probably Damian is just spying on them all over again, in an attempt to make Beast Boy and Raven happen, Robin sent Garfield Logan and Rachel Roth into spying on Wally and making sure that things are okay between him and this Artemis girl turned Cissie Jones. Donna was probably the right person to blame on this, or maybe perhaps Starfire or Stephanie or Cyborg, the last few peoples that knew about them.

"This had been a wonderful time already." Garfield said.

Garfield and Rachel were in a café right in front of the laundromat that Wally West were in. Just in case if there were any sorts of trouble, they would be there to cover up the stuff. The stomach had been killing him for the past few hours. Having the honor to wait for the salad to actually finish was already a pain his butt, quite literally. The metal seat really didn't help.

Thankfully, nobody had to notice there was a giant green beast walking around with a pale grey sorceress. All they needed was to put on their civilian identity using Raven's enchanted necklace that allowed them to turn into a more humanoid form. They even removed Beast Boy's very female magnet ears. It was a profound disappointment for him.

"At least you got your ears out." Rachel said. "I hate having that thing around."

"Oh come on! Chicks dig it." Garfield said.

"That's what you want to believe."

"Really?" Garfield said. "So tell me, Raven... er... Rachel. Is there something you're digging on me?"

"Your browser history."

Garfield froze and widened his eyes. "You want to check on my browser history?"

"I'm just making a witty retort that is neither witty nor intelligent." Rachel said. "Pardon me Mr. Diary Digger."

"Raven... er... Rae..." Garfield shut his mouth midway and groaned. "Look, I'm trying to be serious here."

"The last couple of minutes we've been sitting and talking here really proves that."

"Jesus, Rae. I'm serious!" Garfield said. "If anything, you're the one making me to joke all around. You're the cause of factor here too. You're making your witty retorts yourselves."

"Fine." Rachel said. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Your demon dad."

Rachel really shut her mouth that time.

"Garfield I..." Rachel began.

"I know. That night was really awkward." Garfield said. "Let me make this one clear, okay? What I said the last few nights about... liking you... that's true."

"Really?"

"Really, and it's totally okay if you don't like me back. I understand." Garfield said.

"How... why did you like me?" Rachel said. "How did you even know how to read my diary? It's in German."

_"I stayed in German for a couple of years to find the Sakutia cure." _Garfield said in German. _"There's a lot of things that you don't know about me, Rae."_

Raven widened her eyes.

_"When I read it, I'm just... amazed that you're able to pretend that you don't even have it." _Garfield said. _"I'm not saying that what you had since childbirth was nothing, but I had the rarest disease in the world and if not for Megan, I'd be dead by now."_

_"If not for her, you won't be a giant green beast that can grow wings off his back."_

_"At least I'm alive."_ Garfield smiled. _"For someone who had experienced that for an entire childhood, I know how you feel."_

_"Trust me, you don't." _

_"Okay, I know in some ways how you feel."_ Garfield said. _"Because... well... you saw me in that beast form, didn't you?"_

_"Yeah."_ Rachel said.

_"What did you think about it?"_

Rachel tried her best not to look at Garfield in that way again. Those sharp teeths, the glowing eyes, the thick furs, the huge claws, even the gigantic 4-5 meters tall body shape was one of the scariest things that ever came off from someone that is mostly laid back, pretending to look cool, and admittedly sometimes hilarious. Just a stare from that thing made her to flinch. She had seen demons in her life, but not this demon.

_"Just because you unleashed something by being angry doesn't mean that you're the same to me." _Rachel said. _"I'm angry all the time, angry that this beast is a part of me ever since child birth, but I chose not to. It didn't solve anything. I'm just what I am."_

_"You know, before I know that I got the beast mode inside, I didn't even care about it."_ Garfield said. _"I'm so glad that I got super animal senses. I'm so glad that I can use them to help peoples and protect the ones that I love: My friends, my family, but then I realized that if I lost control, I can be a monster. It's not right. It's not what a lot of peoples want to see from me. I don't know, Rachel, but when you were there with me, when I'm still angry, you didn't blame me for what happened. You forgave me, even after all of what I did to Damian."_

_"What's your point?"_

_"My point is that I like you because you saw me at my worst and you accepted it." _Garfield said. _"Ever since the rest of the Titans saw me in that beast form, they always see me weird."_

_"You know that I did that because I want to calm you down, right?" _Rachel said.

_"I know, but you were the first one to try."_ Garfield said. _"You were the first one to convince me when others are scared of me and I... really appreciate that."_

Rachel was once never before smile in her life, but through the way Garfield said those words like it wasn't another part of his joke, she couldn't help but to smile. It was genuine right on the bottom of his heart. His bright smile can be contagious definitely, but Rachel was usually immune to those. This time, she lowered her defenses and smiled at him.

Garfield giggled. _"Rachel, just in case if you're wondering, I didn't mean that I like you in a... deeper way. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable last time."_

Rachel widened her eyes. _"Um... you didn't, Gar. I'm flattered, really. I just... I'm not used to it, you know, feeling that sort of thing? I mean... It's probably because I don't date peoples as much nor does anyone ever liked me."_

_"What, you didn't count Malchior?"_

_"I did like him, but he broke my heart. So the charm is kind of lost." _Rachel said. _"I don't expect it from you, though."_

_"Why not?" _

_"It's just..." _Rachel said. _"You're the last person I expect to say that, mostly because the way I treated you in so many times in the past."_

_"Hey, I don't blame you. It's just my nature to be a bit annoying." _Garfield said. _"But even then, I'd be lying when I say that you didn't look beautiful when you smile."_

That comment really took Rachel out of the left field. She widened her eyes and a very brief pink blush appeared in her cheeks. _"You... think I'm beautiful...?"_

_"Do I look like I'm kidding?"_

Rachel studied his expression, his ungodly punchable but surprisingly charming bright smile, his surprisingly amazing German, and he wasn't kidding. He kept his eyes locked on her, those dark green eyes pierced through right towards her nerves. She also had to admit that sometimes she wanted to punch the giant beast for his ghastly words.

"At least your German is good." Rachel dodged the bullet.

Garfield smiled. "Well, maybe we should talk like this sometimes. It'd be fun."

"I bet. The others are going to think that we're some sort of a Neo Nazi." Rachel smiled as well.

Garfield made a typical German gesture . _"Hail to the great leader."_

This was one of the rarest times where she had to actually giggle. Garfield kept his smile on as he wanted to burst out in satisfaction of that incredible achievement.

##

_A/N: From this moment on, this fanfiction is going to have a two-week interval. It doesn't mean that we're not getting less of this, but I guarantee that we're going to get more of this. I have a bunch of chapters to go, so please be patient and I will upload for more. Thanks for reading and please do review!_


	18. Deception

C18: Deception

"Here we are!" Paula said. "Our dinner is ready!"

Paula put on the food tray on the dinner table. It was already night time. Wally didn't really had a lot to do after the whole laundry thing and moving the objects out. It was quite fun doing that back with Artemis again er... Cissie again. It had been quite the pleasure doing so. Just spending some time with someone who looked like his long lost girlfriend was quite the treat.

"So what do we have today?" Cissie asked.

"Salad as always." Paula said.

"It already smells great from here!" Wally said.

"Oh Wally, you don't have to." Paula said as she served in the good stuff. One for Wally, one for Cissie, and the last one for herself. She also served in the drinks, just normal mineral water drink but it's nice to clean up mouth.

"So, Wally." Paula said. "What are your plans?"

Wally was busy devouring the salad when Paula asked the question.

"Mmm... I'm sorry, can you repeat that?"

Cissie giggled. "What are your plans on staying here?"

"I uh... I honestly don't really know." Wally said. "I'm just... starting off a new one, trying to forget things. It's been rather rough for the past couple of years. You know, thanks to the Brotherhood, my family couldn't get any worse. It's been quite the drift and... I don't know. I have to get out of it, you know?"

"I'm sorry." Paula said. "Like I said before, we had our shares of problems as well. We're trying to survive out here. That's what we're best at."

"Well, here I am now, having a dinner with a lovely family." Wally said. "By the way, thanks. I really appreciate it."

##

He shouldn't have taken the money. Lawrence Crock was at a secret warehouse hideout somewhere in Coast City. It's a good place to take in hiding from the cops, make sure that the speedsters didn't leave any sorts of trace.

The kid had gone batshit crazy. Every place on Earth, every living human being that he could find, and he still couldn't find what he was looking for. The guy can run in the speed of light, but he couldn't use those times to search for every single living thing on Earth with the name Impulse on it. Perhaps he should've looked for a better name.

"Fuck!" Inertia shouted. "The Titans are really getting on my nerves."

Sportsmaster, still on his outfit, was just there listening to him ramble.

"I can't even find the freaking Titans tower!" Inertia said. "There were like ten of them! Ten! Ten fucking humans, metahumans, and aliens from outer space guarding the world like a fucking blue whale."

"Blue whales still exist here."

"I mean the future... fuck it!" Inertia shouted. He then paused for a bit before widening his eyes and grinning. That sight alone was quite uncomfortable. "Wait, I think I know how to find him."

Inertia's face turned towards Lawrence. He himself was startled by that smile even beyond that green mask. Sometimes, the scariest person in the entire planet was the craziest, and this one was no different. It's even scarier when the guy ran towards him and pointed him on his head.

"Why is Kid Flash coming right after you first?" Inertia asked.

Perhaps it was best for him to not tell the crazy person anything. After all, despite her questionable decisions in the past, she's still a part of him, and it would be fatal sharing an information like that.

"I asked you a question, Lawrence." Inertia said. "You better fucking answer it."

"I don't know." Lawrence said. "He just asked for you and then you just popped up. Pretty convenient for me."

Inertia smiled. "Well, if he did ask me about him, you wouldn't have paused."

"You're just scaring me, that's all." Lawrence said.

"Well, you should." Inertia said. "Because I'm going to get my hands on Impulse and I'm going to kill him on the spot right there, jab him through his heart."

Inertia's hand were raised up above and vibrated in a way that it caused a heavy blur on it. Inertia walked into a nearby wall and showed how easy it is for him to put his hand right inside it. The moment he did so, the wall began to crumble and bits of pieces, dusts, and debris began to fly on him and his face, covering him with grey dusts.

Inertia giggled, slowly but surely showing the burning rage deep down. His face was covered with grey dust, but he just shrugged it off and wiped his eyes out.

"Oh the mess." Inertia said. "It's kind of like masturbating, except you squirt blood. Don't worry, Lawrence. I'll make your daughter cream."

Lawrence stood up from his place just nanoseconds when he heard that, but Inertia gestured a finger right towards him, putting him on his place.

"Uh uh." Inertia said. "There's also another reason why I want to put you in place. If you didn't exist in this universe, Kid Flash wouldn't be blabbering about Artemis."

"He's there." Lawrence said. "By the time he's there, he's going to kick your sorry ass into hell."

"When he found you, and he did find you, he's going for Artemis." Inertia said. "Just tell me where your daughter is and I'll pay you."

"You... how dare you!"

Lawrence rushed in towards him. Inertia just let him did so and he delivered quite the punch towards his face. He stumbled down back into the floor, but just before he could stand back up again, Lawrence lifted him off and pinned him down the wall.

"You're telling me that my daughter is worth a million grand?" Lawrence shouted.

"Wow..." Inertia giggled, but coughing as well quite well after he choked him on his throat. "I... I thought you... hated her."

"She's still my daughter. I still love her." Lawrence said. "I won't let you put your hand on her. So this is going to be quick."

"Not today."

Inertia, using his speed force, managed to grab Lawrence's arms and pushed him away.

"So you're not up to the dollar. What a shame." Inertia said. "You know it yourself. If you're in this business, family should be the last thing you have."

Lawrence charged in once again as he groaned about as hard as an angry gorilla, but Inertia simply kneed him in the chin, causing him to stumble back. That knee was quite hard. He couldn't even block it out. It was as quick as reflexes can get, but then again this was the same guy that took like hundreds and hundreds of mercenaries and put them into some random place in a few seconds.

"So you're not in?" Inertia said. "Shame. I had a bunch of metahumans on the line and I want you to come in. Fine then, should I kill you here?"

##

"So how does your girlfriend looked like?" Paula asked.

"She looks just like me, mom." Cissie said. "The similarities are rather uncanny to be honest."

"By uncanny she meant that she looks exactly the same." Wally said. "You know, like twins."

"Oh really?" Paula said. "So are you thinking of Cissie that way right now?"

"Well, no." Wally said. "I moved on. It's hard to do, but I did it. I think of her every day and every night, my girlfriend I mean. I wouldn't compare her to anyone else, even if she looks the same."

"I'm so amazed that you're able to move on from that." Paula said. "I honestly envy you right now. I've lost so many friends that I lost count, and even to this day I still couldn't move on from that."

"Really?" Wally said. "I don't mean to be rude but you looked just fine back then. If anything, that's how I would've acted."

"So you didn't really move on?" Paula asked.

"Well, for the most part I did." Wally said. "But I can't deny that I still have that part in me, you know?"

"Don't worry, Wally." Paula said. "At this moment on, we should learn how to move on together."

"Yeah. Oh yeah I forgot!" Wally said. He then took something out of his neck and showed it towards the two girls. "This necklace here, it's the only thing that can remind me of her."

The two began staring at Wally with wide eyes for some inexplicable reason. It was probably because the necklace looked so dangerously familiar with the one that Cissie had on herself. She took out her necklace and checked to see if Wally stole anything, and he didn't. She still had her necklace intact.

"Wow, what a coincidence." Wally said. "We had the same necklace!"

"Okay, let me get this straight. Same necklace, same looking girlfriend, same troubled parents, am I in the Twilight Zone or something?" Cissie said. "This really starts to get creepy."

"Wow... I uh... didn't know..." Wally said. "I bought this necklace off at a garage sale, okay? It's coincidence, but it's super coincidence. Nothing more, nothing less."

"It's just a coincidence, dear." Paula said with a smile that couldn't be more obviously fake.

"Right, I guess I have finished my meal for tonight." Wally said. "Thanks again you guys... er... girls. It's a good welcome party, if you can call it one."

"Oh now you're just teasing." Cissie said. "Anyway, you should be going now. It's late."

"Yeah, you're right." Wally said. "Again ladies, it's been fun. I appreciate it. I'll see you all later. Oh and uh... I guess I left quite the plate."

"Don't worry. We'll clean it." Paula said.

Wally stood up off his table and left the room. To Cissie, all this wonderful talking and smiling had given quite the life for the entire family. Wally had been quite a very nice person for a lot of the right reasons. His girlfriend looked like her in a lot of ways, probably a rather weird way to deliver some respect. But he was also very kind towards her mother as well.

Still, something is quite off, and apparently she's not the only one that could feel it.

"Mom," Cissie asked. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Yes, darling." Paula said. "He munched quite a lot of the meal. I overcooked it for a bit."

"Yeah... wait what?" Cissie said. "No! I don't mean that! I mean the necklace."

"Cissie, would you please stop thinking like that?" Paula said. "Your father and sister are strong peoples. Bad, but they're strong. They won't fell into someone like him."

"Mom, we're living in the world where humanoid aliens are living among us and dragons assaulting Jump City." Cissie said. "Their skills are nothing compared to the metahumans."

"They're going to be fine. Believe me." Paula said. "Now go back to sleep. You're going to need it."

##

There was quite the mythology hanging around Superman and the truth about Kryptonians. Superman, no matter how much he'd like to hide, eventually has to blend in with other peoples around with him. When he sleep and he woke up, he's Superman. Whoever kind of identity he's using is actually is his true mask, his true way of blending in.

It was almost like Paula and Cissie. When Cissie woke up from her bed, she's not Cissie Jones. She's Artemis Crock, the troubled child with even more troubling past. She had to wake up using the mask of Cissie Jones to cover up her real story, the same way her mother has to wake up Paula Jones instead of Paula Crock. She never wanted her last name to be a trouble for anyone. She never wanted trouble period.

But oh my had the world has caught with her.

Paula read newspapers instead of those news reports on tablet or even the TV news, as most were just biased political banter and sometimes maybe even propaganda. The Wall Street Journal had been quite the reliable source of newspaper and information even for Star City. There lied every single big news on the headline, and one big news were quite the shocking for the Star City.

"Oh my god."

Cissie caught in surprise by the sight of the headline news, something that Paula had spent her time staring at for the past couple of seconds the same way Wally stared at his clothes. Those big texts couldn't signify more shock to her nerves than anything else. The exclamation mark was indeed quite the important thing not to ignore on that news.

And what were the news talking about on the headline? A body, muscular in size, identified later as Lawrence Crock, was found right in front of the Coast City Police Department with a rather horrifying body condition: His chest was busted open with a hole. Forensics identified it as being killed by a power drill, but the hole was too big for a power drill and there was no signs of bladed weapons or knife used.

"How the..."

That's where the doorbell rang.

##

Reading the news himself was quite shocking already. He couldn't have imagined how Cissie felt. Deep down, Cissie is still Artemis Crock, and there was no way that she couldn't be more traumatized by that.

Cissie opened the door and found Wally West on it. As expected, she could be seen with tears. All Wally could do right now is to pretend that he's not knowing anything, but he was very sure that she knew about it.

"Hey, Cissie." Wally said. "Um, what's the matter? Are you alright?"

Cissie didn't want to waste any time. She downright charged herself towards Wally and lifted him up a neck in a force so powerful even Wally couldn't be able to resist it. She was always strong even when she wasn't really doing anything, and this prove that in a big mile.

"Hey!" Wally said. "What are you doing?"

"Where did you get the necklace?"

"I told you! I got that in a garage sale!"

"You're lying!" Cissie said. "Tell me the truth! Where did you get that?"

"Cissie!"

Of course, the sudden outburst by Cissie got the attention of her mother. Paula went into Cissie to calm her down and get this misunderstanding out of the way.

"Let him go." Paula said.

"I can't, mom." Cissie said. "What if he had something to do with all of that?"

"Wait, all of what?" Wally said.

"Someone... very important to her life had died." Paula said. "He had some connections with that necklace."

"Oh for god's sake!" Wally shook his way out. "You're seriously thinking that just because I have the same necklace as this guy and I'm the guilty party? Why would I kill him?"

Cissie seemed to have regained her consciousness with common sense. If there's one thing that Wally hadn't encountered yet, is Artemis getting real personal with her family. This one really stroke him in the chest of how caring and emotional Artemis could be, and it could be problematic for her anonymity in a lot of ways.

"Look, whoever this guy is I'm sure he's a great guy." Wally said. "But I have nothing to do with the murder. This necklace is more than just a necklace actually."

Wally took the necklace out and revealed a rather interesting compartment inside it.

"It's actually a drive." Wally said. "It's a file containing all the wonderful memories of me and my girlfriend. Videos, Pictures, you name it and it's all in this. If you want the truth, she was the one who made it for me. I made the same necklace for her, a lightning bolt, because she knew me for being quick. She had the same memories too."

Cissie widened her eyes. Even Paula was quite taken back from the revelation.

"Now can we just... calm down for a second?" Wally asked. "I'm just here offering for some breakfast."


	19. The World is Yours

C19: The World is Yours

The sad part is that Cissie had been quite happy and cheerful for the past couple of days. That was all thrown out of the window up until that stupid news come into the papers. No doubt Inertia must have something to do with his death. It was almost like he busted through his chest by vibrating his own hand. It was a devastating punch, and peoples give the wrong false sense that it was a power drill that caused it.

They're certainly right about the drilling part.

Wally had been actually really kind to buy her some lovely Rosemary Tea, something that she always liked ever since they were dating in the first place. He would consider this one a date, but the day had started off too depressing for one to be considered that.

"I'm sorry." Wally said. "I had nothing to do with all of that, okay? If I make you emotional, somehow, I'm sorry. This really isn't my fault."

"I'm the one who should say that." Cissie said. "I pulled your shirt off, almost punched you in the face, I'm the jerk. You got nothing to apologize."

"I'm still sorry for your loss."

"It doesn't matter, really." Cissie said. "I mean don't get me wrong. I'm pissed. I really want to stomp and break something into pieces, but I don't really care at this moment."

"Well, I ordered a tea for you." Wally said. "I'm hoping that it could calm your nerves down for a bit."

"I'm a bit tense, but I'm okay." Cissie said. "Thanks Wally."

"No problem." Wally said. "If you need anything, I'll be around."

Cissie smiled. Just the sight of those curved plump lips forming that expression made Wally to explode in happiness. His girlfriend, even if she wasn't aware of it, is right in front of him, being really kind and just be the typical Artemis, even if that's not really her name now.

"So who was that in the newspaper?" Wally asked. "If you mind me asking. If you don't want to answer, that's fine."

"That's my dad." Cissie said. "My asshole dad who work for criminals and kill everyone he asked to as long as he's paid for it."

"Oh my god." Wally said. "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone about it."

"Anyone probably could figure it out." Cissie said. "Me and my dad, we weren't exactly friends. We're sure as hell aren't a family. He's drunk, abusive, doing things that can be considered amoral like killing peoples or trading drugs. So we left him, alongside by equally evil sister."

"So you're saying that you got a criminal dad and a criminal younger sister?"

"Older, actually." Cissie said. "You're right on the criminal part. My dad kept saying that it's on my blood to become one. I just don't want to. It's not my thing. I'm just glad that I grew up right, you know? I grew up with the right peoples to know that something like that is wrong and stupid."

"Well, Alice didn't really grow up in a criminal life, but she did have an abusive father." Wally said. "Her mother divorced him and her father got the legal rights for her. He's a lazy asshole, and I've been in fistfights with him for a lot of times."

"So did he win over you?"

"He did." Wally said. "I always ended up bruising myself, getting back to the hospital for every five second I keep my stares at him. But I don't care. It was always worth it. Alice was freaking out every single time, but she was always there taking care of me, even sneaking out of the house just to visit me. I mean that's just... you know? It's just moments like that that made me appreciate life even more, knowing that someone else cares for me."

"She must have been an amazing girl."

"Best girl I've ever had in my entire life."

"What, you didn't count your mom in?"

"I said girl, not woman." Wally said. "Mom would be my number one best woman in my life, probably my number one coolest person in this world."

"Mom is always the best."

"So did you really train yourself in martial arts?" Wally asked. " If there's one thing I can say, that's one hell of a pull. You really got me there."

Cissie giggled. "That was nothing. Lots of archery could get you into that."

"I hear it's not that easy to even pull a bow string."

"When I started, pulling that thing takes ages. I was still a girl back then, and it's almost like pulling a truck with a dental floss." Cissie said. "But now that I've been practicing, I did it in barely seconds. It was like firing a machine gun with it."

"That's great." Wally said. "How else are you going to defend yourself?"

"I did a lot of close quarter training." Cissie said. "I can't deny that guns are nice when things are starting to heat. I can use guns, but I seriously prefer bows. They kill people better and no bulletproof arrows could even top them."

"Well, I'd consider myself about the killing part." Wally said. "I don't want to make things more complicating."

"Neither do I." Cissie said. "Shoot to wound is enough."

"How's the tea?"

"It's... actually really good." Cissie said. "This mixing is great, best one I've tasted so far. How do you know I love Rosemary tea?"

"Well, Alice used to love it." Wally said. "She was great at making teas. She taught me one recipe. I told the waitress to make some... tweaks."

"Are you putting drugs here?"

Wally laughed. "Are you really thinking that I'm going that way?"

"I don't know. It might be toxic." Cissie said. "You know, kind of like a rapist spiking its victims."

"Do I look like a rapist?" Wally said. "You should be sleeping in... three seconds."

Cissie sharpened her eyes. Just for the sake of messing up with Wally's head, she dropped her head on the table and closed her eyes, pretending to be knocked unconscious. If there was one thing that Artemis was horrible at, it was acting. She wasn't amazing at it, and Wally giggled on that notion.

"You're smiling!" Wally grabbed her arms and shook her violently. "Oh come on, Cissie! Wake up! Tea's on you if you don't!"

Cissie giggled under his breath and woke up from her temporary sleep. "Oh screw you!"

Wally giggled. "I actually mean it. I got no money."

"Now you're messing up with me." Cissie said. "You know Wally, at this very moment, I really want to see your girlfriend. We'd probably be best friends. You got videos on those necklace, right?"

"Oh trust me you shouldn't watch it. It's mostly boring stuff to you." Wally said. "I'm the only person in this Earth who will watch this a million times and will never get tired of it. It's just the two of us, really."

"Is it password protected?"

"Yeah, it is."

"Well, I can get my way around that too."

"Are you trying to get this?"

"I don't know, can I?"

"No." Wally said. "You're going to lose it."

"Oh come on!" Cissie said. "I still have my necklace here. Do you think I'm going to lose it anytime?"

"How about this," Wally said. "Are you free?"

"When?"

"This whole day."

##

While Cissie and Wally got into their date as they observed from afar, to which Wally had probably aware of their existence, Garfield and Rachel stayed behind. Currently, they were in a mall, and Wally brought Cissie up into an arcade machine center to which they play an air hockey game. Their interactions were cute, quite romantic at times, something that Garfield were admittedly a bit jealous off.

"Look at them." Garfield said. "They look so cute together."

"Sadly the only one who knew that they were practically couples is Wally." Rachel said. "We're probably should be done with the stalking. I'm a bit hungry."

"Let's go find some food then."

There was a food stand just right near the arcade center. Garfield bought some tofu while Rachel got herself a burrito. It's not that Garfield despised animals. He just wasn't really someone who eats a lot of meat ever since his disease become more apparent.

"So who was that guy on purple?" Rachel asked. "The way you acted on him, you must have known him."

"I knew him ever since I was a kid." Garfield said. "His name is Professor Sam. He was one of the few peoples who put on some research for the Sakutia disease, and whether or not it's contagious."

Rachel began to subtly stepped away from Garfield as if she was suggesting something.

"I... Rachel, where are you doing?" Garfield asked.

"You're contagious."

Garfield laughed. "No, it's not! I had that for like years, Rachel! Robin should've turned into a giant green monster by this point."

"And Starfire would not like it a single bit." Rachel said. "How the hell did he turn just like you?"

"I really honestly don't know." Garfield said. "He probably saw my transformation and got jealous of it. The question is why now and where did he get the serum?"

"He just turned insane for power." Rachel said. "Most evil scientists get like that."

"He's not evil!" Garfield said. "He took care of me when I was like six!"

"Okay fine." Rachel said. "But that doesn't mean that he didn't attack those SWAT members."

"He must have a reason. He must have been troubled." Garfield said. "He's not evil, okay?"

"Maybe things have changed." Rachel said. "Maybe he's desperate for something."

"How would you know about it?" Garfield asked. His tone was slightly higher. "You never even met him."

"I'm sorry, Gar." Rachel said. "I'm just speculating. It doesn't mean that it's true."

"Yeah, well you shouldn't speculate that the doctor who took care of me since I was a kid to be an evil mad scientist." Garfield said. "But... I can't really say that it isn't true either."

"If he really is what you said he is, then he should probably have his consciousness back." Rachel said. "But he didn't. He lost control, did he?"

"Yeah. It reminds me when I beat Robin up into pieces." Garfield said. "To be honest, when I was on that island, I thought I lost control. Thank god I didn't. I merged, blending in with the nature and I can control myself from doing animalistic things, but I'm still an animal deep down."

"Aren't we all?"

Garfield was a bit taken back by Rachel's last comment. At some ways, she could be telling the truth, especially through the way she smirked at him and pat his back.

"Yeah, we all are."

Garfield leaned on the balcony, glancing up at the happy faces of the peoples that are enjoying the park for the sake of their own amusement. These are peoples with kids and real problems. There was no denial that going around on this mall doing stuff for their own pleasure was in some ways animalistic. Humans are never not bored. They'll always be bored of something and they'll going to do anything to cure it.

"Where are they?" Rachel asked.

"They're in the air hockey." Garfield said. "Relax. I got their smell. I can do it. Wait a second..."

As Garfield put another bite on his vegetarian tofu, he just realized a smell was completely off putting. The smell was quite weird, kind of like smelling a burnt piece of metal. It managed to feel like as if two objects were colliding together in the quickest of speed. It wasn't far off and it wasn't really coming any closer, but that's not really a problem.

"Can you smell it?" Garfield asked.

"No I don't." Rachel said. "What did you smell?"

"I smell something." Garfield said. "It's rather weird. It's kind of like metal burning. Are there any construction sites around?"

"Um... not to my knowledge." Rachel said. "We're in the third out of five floors inside this mall and I can't see anything."

"Is he here?"

"Burning metals could be anything, Gar. Just because he ran like a Road Runner and burns metal doesn't mean he's here." Rachel said. "That also doesn't mean we should lower our defenses, though."

"Oh no." Garfield went tense all the sudden.

"What is it?"

"He's here."

"Who?"

##

Garfield didn't really say anything. He just marched himself out among the crowd. Not to say that Rachel couldn't find him, but he was definitely putting his recklessness in front of his face. Not a good step, and Robin could definitely be angry with that.

"Garfield!" Rachel shouted as she chased him away.

She wasn't even sure where he was going. It's not like Raven had the nose sensitivity of a watchdog. Her nose had conflicted with either the smell of Garfield's Tofu, her last meal, and the bunch of undeterminable perfumes that the crowds wore, the same crowds she and Garfield went through to get wherever Garfield wanted.

"Garfield!"

Rachel kept shouting, but he didn't listen. He was still using his disguise though, and decided not to turn himself into Beast Boy. Raven should've used her soul self or teleport her right near him, but he just couldn't stop. It's not that she didn't trust him and his smells, but smells can be tricked into something more despicable.

The chase went quite a while. They ended up all the way in the ground floor right outside of a random band attempting to cover 'Soul of a Frozen Angel', a song that, as an avid fan of rock and heavy metal, she didn't even like. She didn't even know the band's name, and somehow Garfield was more excited on seeing that thing.

In a surprisingly not-so overcrowded concert stage, Rachel found Garfield stopping his way as he glanced the band performing the song. It was pathetic. Rachel wasn't even really a guitar player and she could perform better than them. And somehow this mindless green animal of a beast just stare at it with awe.

"Garfield!" Rachel said. "You're taking your eyes off of Wally just so you can enjoy a stupid metal band?"

"They're the hottest in the country!"

"Did you even know their name?" Rachel said. "Their cover wasn't even good!"

Just as Rachel about to reply a second time, Garfield was completely away from her sight. If there's one thing that she had to admit, Garfield's reflexes could beat her anytime in any day, but the fact that he just disappeared among the crowds. Did he put the disguise out and turned into a random animal?

##

At last, he found him. After making Raven disappear for a while, Garfield found the perpretator and decided to deal with him personally. Dr. Sam was not the kind of person who would be able to cure the Sakutia disease even through the means of using Garfield's blood, which for the record would only make things worse.

He did however manage to find a serum that temporarily turns his skin into a human one. He managed to disguise himself as a human, but his smell was still distinct. The chemical properties of what he consumed can still be traced by the Beast's nose, and there's no denying that he failed to completely blend in with that case.

Sam disguised himself as a janitor. After conveniently working right in front of a department store, Garfield pulled the oldest card in the book: A fake pistol aimed right on his belly.

"Keep walking."

Garfield asked the man in question as politely as possible. He guided him through the mass crowd, leaving Rachel still on the back looking out for him. She could find him anywhere, but at this moment, his animal senses really does help.

Their destination was right at the janitor's room. No one was there, so it should be a good place to talk privately with. He was hoping that things wouldn't go south for this one, but there are huge chances that it will.

"Doctor..."


	20. Metal Burn

"Doctor." Garfield said. "You know me, right?"

Sam turned his face around. He finally glanced at the man who put him all through that tiresome journey with a gun on his back, which turned out to be wasn't really real. It was just an air pistol, and Garfield could carry it on his back like he was only strolling through the Sunday Morning.

"I can't believe I fell into that trick." Sam said. His voice was still just the same. "You were quite exceptional to your age."

"I'm not here to attack you. I'm just here to talk." Garfield said. "I don't even know where to begin."

"Begin anywhere."

"How about the fact that you can turn into me?" Garfield said. "You took my blood. It had the virus sample, right? Did you took it inside you? Did you put it right inside?"

"I didn't." Sam said. "Listen, boy. I have absolutely no intentions of harming those peoples. I really don't. I got hit by this disease out of my will."

"What do you mean?"

"It's Inertia." Sam said. "I think he injected me without my knowledge. I'm sorry. I can't stay for long."

"Why not?" Garfield asked. "Where is Inertia?"

"I'm here to distract you." Sam said. "You and the wizard."

"What?"

##

Damn, Beast Boy was one of the few peoples that could hide away from her. The massive number of crowds managed to make her think how Garfield was able to distinguish between one man's smell after the other.

Just moments before she could dive into more of her thoughts, somebody snatched her hand out of nowhere. There's the green bastard with his blonde hair and his rather conspicuous disguise. The beast pulled her away from the crowd, much to her annoyance.

"What's going on?" Rachel asked.

"We're being tricked!" Garfield said. "Wally is in danger!"

##

"Was it fun?" Wally asked.

"Yeah, it was quite fun." Cissie said. "Thanks for bringing me here. I really want to forget the stuff with my dad."

"Don't think about it." Wally said. "It's only going to bring you down. I learned that the hard way."

"Seriously though–"

Wally and Cissie were dumbfounded by the lack of mall attendees that are happening right in front of them. What they got instead was an empty balcony, with the small stores on the side being closed down with metal grills. The moment they caught notice on what was in front of them, they froze and sharpened their eyes. Wally was the one who got surprised most, as this couldn't be more of an obvious sign.

"Where's everybody?" Cissie asked.

And there he is. Now that he saw him in full costume without breaking more speeding tickets, there was no better description to describe him other than a green, sadistic version of Impulse. Inertia stood right in front of them with a smirk and his hands crossed, ready for battle with the other speedster in question.

"So how's the monkey business?" Inertia asked.

"Cissie, stay back."

"Oh come on!" Inertia said. "You know her real name. You're the one who pinned her dad down a wall and barked in questions about her."

"And you're the one who drilled him to the death."

"Wait, what?" Cissie said. "What the hell is going on?"

"Cissie... Artemis." Wally corrected. "Run."

"You know, it really took me a while to find this Artemis chick, but finding you was a hell of a lot easier." Inertia said. "So are you willing to die a second time?"

"Let's find out."

Wally took the Flash ring out of his pockets. The moment he turned his ring on, the costumes inside popped up. Using his super speed, Wally spun into a tornado and immediately wore his Kid Flash outfit. To say that she was astonished was a complete understatement. The costume came in and he wore it in almost in the blink of an eye, almost quite literally.

"If you're going to fight, then I'll give you one." Kid Flash said. "But put Artemis away from this."

"That's not fun." Inertia said. "But fine. Although if you lose, I got to drill her, and when I say drill I mean down under."

"You won't be doing that."

Kid Flash turned his attention towards a bewildered Artemis. He turned his super speed on and grabbed Artemis to his clutch. The speed force was able to protect Artemis from any sorts of momentum caused by the sudden stop that Kid Flash made. Kid Flash made his stop to a nearby emergency escape stairway. It's the only way to put her away from danger.

##

Not even a single thought managed to pass his head. Time didn't even allow her brain to process what's going on. Not even a single iota of information managed to breach into her neural systems. Not one sensory nerves were able to send an information that quick. This was a person well-known for her fast thinking and quick reflexes, and there was just nothing.

In almost literally a millisecond, Wally West in tight yellow costumes with lightning around them brought her in an emergency exit. He pinned her in the side of the wall in a force thankfully not as quick as his running.

"Where am I?" Artemis said.

"You're in the Emergency Exit." Wally said. "I know you have a lot of questions, but I can't answer that now. So please just run. Run as fast as you can."

"What's going on?"

"He's here to kill someone that I must protect." Wally said. "You. I must protect you from him. I think I saw Beast Boy and Raven in disguise. Just go to the bottom floor and they'll find you soon enough."

"Wait, who?"

"You'll know when you see them." Wally said. "I have to go."

"Wait!" Artemis said. "That girl in the picture... she's not Alice, right?"

Wally stopped in momentarily to give her the brief explanation. There was nothing more to interpret about that. He couldn't have someone dangerously similar and yet still be able to recognize her.

"No." Wally said. "That was you."

Artemis widened her eyes. "What?"

Before he could even reply, Wally ran in the speed of light, disappearing into the wind almost at the same speed as when she was brought in here.

If his warning wasn't enough, the fire alarm went off. She knew that it was fake, but it certainly caused a lot of panic downstairs. Lots of peoples screamed at the buzzing sound of the fire alarm. It was quite the warning, and there were nothing else that they could do but run.

And so she did. Artemis ran as fast as she could to the bottom of the emergency stairs. She just observed that she's on the third floor. It's going to take a while to actually get to the ground floor and get the car running, but there was a more concerning problem to be had at this moment.

As she walked down the stairs, a girl popped up right on her face, putting her in a bit of a shock. The girl wore a black hoodie of some sort with the hood worn and some sort of a tube on her back and her hip. The tubes only left a bit of a hole to expose the familiar feathers of an arrow, so it's basically a quiver of some sort. Two quivers in fact: Back and hip. Not only that, but she carried off a large green bag on her one hand and a retractable recurve bow on the other.

So this girl is definitely an archer, but working on whose side?

"Hm..." The girl began speaking. "You're a bit taller than I expect. So you're KF's little girlfriend?"

"Sorry, what?"

"Speedy. Nice to meet you."

This Speedy person began handing her over a large green bag. Not sure what's on the green bag itself, but it was rattling the moment she threw it at her, possibly more arrows for her to carry on.

"We don't have time." Speedy said. "A bunch of peoples are causing riots downstairs."

"I thought it was a fire alarm."

"No." Speedy said. "It's the 2015 Gotham riots all over again. My mission is to bring you save outside from the riot. We're probably going to stun some peoples in the outside."

"What's in this bag?"

"You can suit up if you want to." Speedy said. "A retractable recurve, good choice if you want no bullcrap and just shoot peoples. And a bunch of stun arrows."

"You're giving me all of this?"

"Sure, why not?" Speedy said. "If you're going to defend yourself, I suggest you to suit up. Things are going to get real nasty downstairs. I'll wait."

"Well, alright."

Speedy called in the situation towards a dispatch radio. "Raven, tell me you're doing real okay there."

##

"Raven here." Raven said. "BB's not really having a good time with his old friend. How's Artemis?"

_"She's alright." _Speedy replied. _"Try to handle the civilians. Are the Titans coming?"_

"I haven't called." Raven said. "You make the call. I got a riot to clean up."

Raven was totally in the middle of a huge riot. A bunch of peoples just randomly came in, beat up the security guards, break in through the stores, and take in whatever kind of expensive objects they can find. That metal bad concert was completely off the stage and replaced with Beast Boy fighting over a giant Purple Panther.

She tried to contain the situation by coming off into a nearby store and pulling out the guys, but it was too hard in it of itself. She couldn't get all stores on time especially when tons of men are after her.

The main lobby was completely blasted with a bunch of angry mercs and rioters trying to break in through many of the shops while still having the store owners inside the bloody thing. Raven could only either dodge, knock out, or even run away from the men as far as possible. There were too many of them, and things got real bad real fast.

One man swung his arm towards Raven's head, but Raven simply ducked down avoiding the attack. She replied by kicking the guy's knee. The guy kneel on the floor, giving Raven a chance to knock him out by punching him in the temple. And he did get knocked out. It was a matter of time.

She was then suddenly caught off guard by the attack of one man jumping and kicking her in the air. It worked. Raven caught off balance and was thrown into the floor a few meters away. The guy continued his surprising attacks by a downward kick into the floor, but Raven was just two away from getting hit with that attack.

It's time to cheat the system for a bit and use a bit of magic, but she didn't really expect what she just got herself into. In a reflex, she grabbed something on the ground, a piece of unsharpened pencil, and pointed out the guy while giving away her magic words. It was really enchanted in a whisper, but her magic word was able to propel the guy several meters and knocking him out in a nearby wall.

This really reminded her of that particular novel she read.

Before she could realize what she just done, five more guys came in to raid a random jewelry store. Raven had to save at least one of the stores before something goes bad, so she went in and used her mighty pencil wand to at least find a way to intimidate one of the rioters.

She pointed her pencil wand towards the jewelry store. She swung it to the right away from the store. In the process, all five of the rioters looting the said store were thrown away in an incredible force that it broke the glass barriers blocking off the jewelry store. All five men were thrown out in the air. Some ended up hitting the floor. Others were unfortunate enough to hit a garbage bin, the ceiling, and even a clothing rack respectively.

She did the same thing to the bakery store across, but with some difficulties as there were eight instead of five. She blasted the first one into a wall, knocking him out. She grabbed two men on their head and slammed them into the display. She knocked two more men near the register by putting a telekinesis on the register and slammed it on both of their temples.

The other three were smart enough to pull a pistol out and shoot at Raven, but Raven was able to block it using a ward – a force field generated in her hand – that repels the bullets. They unfortunately managed to drain her mana into a worrying level, so she used the last mana to simply create a force explosion right near the three conveniently positioned men, knocking them out into several objects that she honestly couldn't tell as she ran into a nearby display wall for cover.

Her mana only took about half a minute to fully recharged, but that's still a considerable long time.

"Damn it."

That's where she heard the loud growling of a hungry wolf. She glanced back up to reveal something rather horrifying.

A huge, dark, almost colorless werewolf charged itself towards her, breaking the wind for a speed record.


	21. Big Trouble in Little Star

Thankfully, Beast Boy came in just in time on his giant green werewolf form. This was quite the serious issue. At one hand, you have a bunch of rioters looting the mall for no adequate reason other than because Inertia told them so. And at the other, two giant werewolves fighting each other and making sure nobody gets hurt.

"Beast Boy!" Raven shouted. The Beast Mode that he's in certainly put him on a worrying level.

Raven tried to ignore the fight momentarily to focus more on other things like a bunch of peoples trying to steal sports equipment. She went into one of the nearby stores and threw that stupid pencil away just so that she could really focus this time especially when these rioters are starting to shoot her.

##

"So how many arrows are on these quivers?" Artemis asked.

"A hundred of them can fit inside quite well." Speedy said. "So in total, those are two hundred arrows you're carrying. All stun arrows just to make sure that civilians don't actually die when you shoot like a drunk wanker."

"Suck?" Artemis said. "I'm way beyond suck for this sort of thing."

"Prove it." Speedy said. "A few floors down here, there's going to be a door leading to a department store. Looters love to get their hand on the latest curved TVs."

"How many?"

"Probably hundreds, some are going to be armed with guns." Speedy said. "Nothing I can't handle."

"I don't know if I can do this."

"Then I'll make it simple." Speedy said. "You either stay here and let me have all the fun shooting a bunch of looters–"

"Fine, I'll follow."

"No, you go around and shoot them all off." Speedy said. "I know you're a pro at this so I don't want to handhold you every second."

"Alright."

"Here's the door." Speedy said. "Are you ready?"

"How to distinguish one looter after the other?"

"They're very obvious on their fashion choice." Speedy said. "So are you ready?"

"I got this." Artemis said. "Don't worry."

Speedy kicked in the door and she immediately took her arrows to take some aim towards a bunch of looters. They're seriously dressing very conspicuously. The dark clothing and the bulletproof armors, those are definitely not going to stand in a few arrows.

Up front, there were about eight looters caught in every line of sight. Speedy took an arrow and shot it right towards one guy's chest. The electric shock of the stun arrow managed to shook him violently towards the floor and causing him to rampage towards a nearby shopping trolley.

Artemis took aim into another one. The stun arrow managed to hit his body and he is most definitely knocked out after a constant shock of that thing. She shot two more carrying a nearby HDTV, one in the leg and one in the chest. The HDTV sure as hell suffered quite the fall.

Only in a span of three seconds, Artemis and Speedy managed to hit all eight targets on the line of sight, all got shocked into oblivion and reacted violently towards the shocking revelation. However, the problem doesn't end there as a few looters take notice on their stunning spree, both were unfortunately on each of their side.

"Three!" Speedy shouted.

"Nine!" Artemis shouted.

Artemis was on the right side of Speedy all this long. As Artemis noticed the obvious targets on her nine, she turned herself around to catch up with her targets. The turning was quite swift, almost in motion with Speedy turning herself into her three to face off similar targets.

She didn't really have one single arrow on her handhold, so she had to use her quiver. She got all targets on her line of sight and took free potshots towards the looters. Speedy did almost exactly the same thing as well, taking more shots into her targets and taking more opponents down. All looters were taken down and so far, problem solved.

"You did good." Speedy said.

"Could've been so much better."

"There's more downstairs." Speedy said. "If I were you, I'd watch out for debris and a purple werewolf."

"A purple what?"

##

For years, Wally had been imagining to find out the real threat of another speedster. He had never seen Flash going toe to toe with the Reverse Flash mostly because he was already on jail or someone sent him back through time or something like that, but the one thing he was glad on is that at least the threat is over.

This... now he understood why Uncle Barry wouldn't let him near the psycho. The entirety of the Thawne family was a bunch of psycho lunatics filling the world with propaganda and ironic statements. He weren't really sure where it all began. Was it all because of Eddie Thawne, the relatively harmless police officer who did nothing sinful other that he once had a relationship with Barry's now-wife Iris West? No one knows where Eddie is right now. He just disappeared out of reality.

Thaddeus Thawne was a grandeur example of how to totally represent an entire genetics of family. The man is a psychopath coming from an Orwellian future controlled by government legislations and dicks. If he was surely going to take control of the world by abusing the speed force, he needed to be made aware that there was another person who is in control.

Three, in fact.

He has been made aware so many times that his speed weren't always up to par with the big three, whose speed force actually came through incident by themselves. He had to at least be connected to The Flash to have his own independent power. The accident came just when Flash was trying to show him the moves, then suddenly a lightning just happened to strike by. It probably didn't attack Flash, but it sure as hell did strike Wally.

Speed force saved his life and made him powerful. He was glad that he used it to save the world with a bunch more superheroes from two different universes. And now, having literally ran through a wormhole before, his speed was somehow equivalent to those of Inertia. Or maybe he was just slower.

A huge bulging large of a tornado formed somewhere right near the arcade stations where he and Artemis played. Coins and tokens came out of the malfunctioned machines and were scattered throughout the floor, some were even still flying in the air. All thanks to their speed force and uncontrollable will of gravity. Time and time again, both characters were thrown into a machine, completely breaking it off into pieces. One character would try to attack by running and punching, but ended up breaking through walls, breaking through thick metals on the machinery, or even point blank break through a head using a vent.

The soon they stopped running, they faced towards each other. Millions of coins that were coming out of the machinery stopped flying around. Some coins correlate to the direction where each respective speedster went last time. Kid Flash stopped and tons of coins flew at him, so he covered up his head before a few more flew.

Somehow, he managed to punch Inertia on his way, causing him to propel into a nearby souvenir display and breaking every single thing in there. He knew that he also got speedy recovery, but the impact must have been at least hurt. The display itself was made of strong glass, but cracked open and tore into pieces the moment it made an impact with Inertia's body.

Inertia fell down the floor, grunting as he could in the process. After he realized that he wasn't unconscious yet, he glanced at his attacker.

"Fuck, you're good." Inertia said. "You're going to pay for this."

"If you want to kill me, go ahead."

That's where Inertia took a second glance to the real attacker. The voice was different for some reason, all because someone else took the role. It turned out that it was his alter ego, the positive side of him, the one that would dare wear a red version of his shirt and the rival of the future. It was Impulse, and he got him hard.

"We're going to end this now." Impulse said. "No one should die because of you in the future, not even your own men. They deserve better than to follow you and your family."

"If only your family didn't make things worse." Inertia said, struggling to stand up. "You do know that half of your blood came out from Thawne, right?"

Impulse froze. "What?"

"You didn't know?" Inertia said. "Silly thing. None of the Allens were notably smart."

"What are you talking about?"

"Your mother was a Thawne." Inertia said. "Both of us were the creation of two speedster blood who were once fighting each other for just nothing really. The Flash fought for his city. Reverse Flash fought him because he wanted revenge. Little did he know that going back through time didn't really change anything. It just created an entirely new timeline."

"I don't care." Impulse said. "I'm here now. It doesn't matter. If you're going to kill Uncle Barry, I'm still going to be here."

"I'm going to have a lot of fun with you." Inertia said. "Are you ready?"

"Ready."

##

The large racks peoples commonly see in store departments were always lined up to each other representing every single product that peoples want to buy. When all of that were ruined especially when two werewolves were fighting each other, those racks fell down like dominos forming a dangerous domino reaction. The racks fell to each other again and again until there was nothing left to fell through. In result, some civilians who were unfortunate enough to get caught between the racks were unable to escape.

Thankfully Kid Flash was faster than the speed of light. He managed to arrive on time and evacuated all the civilians that were about to be crushed by the large shopping racks. Even though Beast Boy noticed the civilians in danger, he couldn't risk letting his eyes out of his purple alter ego.

Beast Boy tried as hard as possible to hold the purple werewolf as much as possible. He held both of its shoulders and prevent him from getting through any more civilians. The purple werewolf was inexperienced on handling the kind of virus that Sakutia did to Garfield. Even making a cure through a Martian blood wasn't enough to satisfy their needs. Beast Boy, who is significantly stronger and had more control on his power, could easily beat the other guy, but it was his strength and determination that caught him off guard.

As Kid Flash managed to save the hostages, Beast Boy made his final move. He lifted the guy up and threw him into a wall. In the process, he got hit with a meat display, breaking it into pieces, and finally hit the wall so hard that his growl echoed through the entire room.

That didn't stop him for standing up, though. He stood up, still on his purple werewolf form, but it was too late for him to make a move as werewolf Beast Boy ran towards him and punched him in the head. The impact was powerful enough to propel his entire back of his head into a nearby wall and breaking it through into another room, a meat kitchen.

The power was enough to incapacitate him for a few moments. Beast Boy watched him as he tried to limp his way up into a nearby table. He grabbed the said table, but Beast Boy lifted him back up and pinned him into a nearby wall. After that, he repeatedly punched him in the face, several times, just to make sure that he got himself knocked out, and he did.

The moment Beast Boy delivered his last punch, the purple werewolf closed his eyes and didn't respond. Beast Boy threw him off into the floor, to which he almost instantly turned into a purple human again. Beast Boy turned into his human self, to which his small chest emblem provided his red and white flexible shirt back to him.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Sam." Beast Boy said. "Look at all this mess you made... all that we made. I can't blame you for what Inertia did, but you still have some awareness."

"You... have no rights to judge!"

"I know." Beast Boy said. "I have no rights to say what you feel as well, but if you want me to forgive you, hand over yourself."

"Or what?"

Beast Boy sighed. "Speedy..."

That's where Speedy, who was on the back all this long, shot a stun arrow right through his neck, completely putting him into a deep sleep until the thing is removed. Beast Boy closed his eyes and clenched his fist. To see his beloved doctor to fully turn himself and embrace his inner beast was too punishing enough.

"Old friend?" Speedy asked.

"Yeah." Beast Boy said. "He was great."

"I'm sorry."

Speedy moved in to deal with the huge beast. He followed her shortly after before he replied to Speedy's condolences.

"Doesn't really matter now."

##

Impulse and Inertia's fight weren't as long as Bart wanted it to be. Bart was expecting quite the challenge, but Inertia had already been exhausted and heavily thanks to Kid Flash doing his part the entire time he was there. The fight was over. Inertia got himself away from things, and unfortunately Artemis knew that Wally had been lying all this time.

The cops of Starling City came in to investigate what in the name of god was going on in this particular mall. Just in time, the Titans assigned for the job managed to capture the looters and the metahumans, particularly Sam and Inertia himself. All respective police officers like SWAT members and of course Chief Lance surrounded the mall and evacuated the hostages and hilariously, Beast Boy's secret metal band managed to get away with it as well.

The two female archers Speedy and Artemis leaned up into a wall with their hands crossed, looking at the police bringing the justice to the looters and hired goons.

"How did uh... the green speedster guy..."

"Inertia?"

"Yeah." Artemis said. "How did Inertia get a hold of those mercenaries?"

"Simple." Speedy said. "He ran into a bank, stole all the money he could take, and paid anyone who wants to work for him."

"That simple?" Artemis said. "Christ, these superpowered guys are getting worse."

"You tell me." Speedy said. "I don't have a single clue about the purple guy. BB said that it was his friend."

"The green werewolf guy was one of yours?"

"Yup."

"Oh." Artemis said. "How did you meet Wally?"

"He just popped up, literally." Speedy said. "If you want the complete story, you can ask him yourself."

"His entire story is driving me crazy." Artemis said. "His girlfriend is so weird."

"I thought you were his girlfriend."

"What? No!" Artemis said. "I just met him like yesterday!"

"I can't believe I said this but in an alternate universe, you were." Speedy said. "He literally came from an alternate universe. It's kind of the same, kind of different, but he said that I wasn't there so it's got to be really boring."

"Alternate universe?" Artemis said. "That exist?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Speedy said. "It just wasn't as different. Anyway, I gotta debrief. Everyone's going to get extra push-ups if no one will."

Speedy just left her on her way.

It didn't take long for Artemis to go out and find the costumed Wally West standing with his other friends: another speedster, a sorcerer, and a guy entirely made of green. As Artemis was about to approach Wally, she stopped as Impulse gave his comments.

"Oh, looks like your girlfriend's coming!"

"She's not my girlfriend." Wally said. "I just met her a day ago."

"Dude, you got a lot of explaining to do." Garfield said.

"Be safe around her." Raven said.

"I know." Wally said. "I'll be back."

Wally came in to Artemis and greeted her. "Hey."

"Hey." Artemis crossed her hands. "Thanks for saving me and all, but mind if you tell me why you lied?"

"I didn't entirely lie." Wally said. "I half-lied to you."

"Oh like that makes things a lot better."

"No really, I did." Wally said. "My girlfriend didn't technically die. She was just in... another place, let's just say."

"You mean another universe?"

Wally sighed. "Yeah, like that. And uh... she really was my girlfriend, except her name wasn't Alice. It was Artemis. I told you, half-lied."

"So you made that fake album just to fool me?"

"Yeah. I mean... like... it's possible to see an exact clone of you in this world, right?" Wally said. "It's rare, but it's possible. You were just lucky."

"Lucky is an understatement." Artemis said. "I just held a bow and arrow and shot off a bunch of looters with a crazy but fairly cool archer chick."

"Is it fun?"

Artemis sighed. "I admit, it's kinda fun going back into action."

"So you want to join?"

"What?"

"The Titans." Wally said. "Do you want to join the Titans?"

"I uh..." Artemis said. "What do I need?"

"Nothing." Wally shrugged. "Robin already considered you to join. Just be careful, though. He's quite strict on his rules."

"I don't know." Artemis said. "I might consider it, but I got to ask someone."

"I know you will." Wally tapped on her shoulder. "Well, I'll see you next time, probably."

"Yeah." Artemis said. "Do you think we're going to meet again?"

"I don't know." Wally said. "I don't want to sound like a prophet, but there are going to be aliens, quite the real menace, so keep your eyes open and promise me when the Earth is screwed, you're going to be there to help peoples."

"I can promise you that."

##

_A/N: And that concludes the second phase out of five phases in Out of the Box! Sorry if the ending is a bit rushed, but that's because there's going to be another month break because I had another test coming and this one is real serious. _

_I'm planning for around fifty chapters to complete this entire series and I have the outline to make it totally work, so please. You don't need to donate anything other than your thoughts and opinions, so just hit that review button and support! Thanks. :)_


	22. Whine on Titan

_PODCAST: EXCLUSIVE TALK WITH THE TITANS_

_DATE: July 26 2026_

"Hello there, viewers." Moderator began. "So... I have a chance to talk to one of the members of the Titans. They're a group of real life superheroes if you can believe that."

"We already got superheroes since like 2016 if you count Batman as one of them." Raven replied.

"Yeah, Batman did something quite significant for Gotham." Moderator said. "If not for him, Gotham would just be crumbling with crime right now."

"Yeah, I think that plays more on the fact that the Batman's presence got criminals scared." Raven said. "Let's not forget about the group that he made right now. They're practically bulletproof and some of them actually joined up in the Titans."

"Oh and by the way... I have Raven in today's podcast as my guest."

"Hi."

"Thank you for joining in." Moderator said. "It's quite the honor that I have someone from the Titans to talk with here."

"I'm really the one who should be honored, frankly." Raven said. "I watch a lot of your videos. They've been very informative and it really got me up to speed especially with the matters of President Luthor."

"Oh thank you. I... didn't know that you watch them."

"Yeah, I prefer to listen to the people's voice more than the media right now." Raven said. "Even to a blind eye, people can tell that they're extremely biased and doesn't really cover up a lot of the important things. The media attacks us a lot, like, they just simply don't like us."

"Oh no kidding." Moderator said. "Things got real heated up with Luthor being the President, but that's not saying that the last president is any better. So I'm really surprised that you actually wanted to take a chance for a discussion. The Titans has been very polarizing by my viewers."

"And that's fine." Raven said. "As a Titan, public image is the least of our concern to be honest. Our primary concern is to provide safety as possible to normal humans from either metahumans or potential threats like probably alien attacking the White House. We try as hard as possible to be transparent, but that doesn't mean that we're going to tell everything. There are some information that can lead to real panic. If you have opinions about us, that's perfectly fine. Frankly, all it ends up is just going to be opinions. If you do attack us with a bomb, we might not react as well."

"Let's not forget about those political extremist calling you terrorists."

"Oh god. They're... they're the worst. Like, really bad." Raven said. " Interestingly enough, about um... two years ago I think, the Titans had a talk about dealing with some nasty opinions especially from the media. We agreed that we should keep things as civil as possible and not make any harmful statement because one: It's harmful and two: it's not beneficial. We did have that policy for a long time and thankfully as long as we keep doing our job and we keep doing it well, most peoples from the internet has been quite positive. It's the media that constantly attack us for no reason. We honestly really do try to be as peaceful as possible without getting random accusations of um... 'going against humanity's interest' or worse, being accused of racist or misogynist-"

"Wow, you um... get that too?"

"Yeah absolutely." Raven said. "Every time we do something that's not in their favor, these groups are going to accuse us for - at the absolute best accusation - being a xenophobe. I'm still... really baffled that they're angry because we save a bunch of white men from a burning building."

Moderator laughed.

"And that's just the tip of the iceberg." Raven said. "Like, we're the terrorist because we save a bunch of white men from a bomb. What... I mean these peoples who got into the burning building basically did nothing wrong. I've talked to these peoples. They're very polite and civil and we have a telepath to prove that they did nothing wrong. Sure, they acted like assholes in the past but not enough to deserve being blown up to pieces. The fact that these political extremists want to take a step further to 'kill all white men', let me remind you, the dominant population of America, is just so... Brotherhood of Evil bad."

"Wait, aren't the Brotherhood of Evil group came from the political extremists?"

"No. Not really." Raven said. "The Brotherhood is another huge question that we still couldn't find answers to. The worst part is that we actually assumed that they came from political extremists. We assumed that they came from the peoples who want to push their agenda so hard they had to basically invade Central City for that to happen. We don't know for sure, but what we do know is that they're going to kill peoples and we prevented that from happening again."

"Yeah, and uh... you took quite the controversial move."

Raven sighed. "Yeah. As a Titan, we promised not to go as far as to be the executioner. But there are undoubtedly situations in which we have no choice but to take that extreme measure. It's... quite controversial, but if we have to take the role of the executioner, we need the public's view. After the Brotherhood fiasco, I checked online and peoples on the internet who are not yet indoctrinated with identity politics are mostly tolerant for our move. The Brotherhood is basically a terrorist group, but the media for some reason accuse us for being absolute backwards."

"It seems like they had their own agenda to push."

"Absolutely." Raven said. "The worst comes from G. Gordon Godfrey. That guy..."

"Oh god. The guy's nuts."

"Yeah." Raven said. "I'm... really surprised that Lex News let someone like him in there. He's essentially a paranoid schizophrenic conspiracy theorist that cherrypicks anything that the Titans do wrong and use them as a fact. At his best, he's a propagandist nutter. I watch some of your conspiracy theories but at least the proofs are somewhat credible."

"He's just essentially torturing himself in."

"Yeah. I feel sorry for the guy." Raven said. "One of our Titans member, Red Robin, said that listening to him is like being drilled into both of his temples. That's like... an exact description of what it feels like. It's just... every time he cherrypicks on either the Titans, the Earth's Finest, or when he show false statistics to further his agenda, at best he would change the channel. At worst, he would literally smack the TV with his own fist. We had to buy another one for that."

"I can't blame him though. That's exactly what I would do."

Raven giggled. "The funny thing is he actually challenged Godfrey for a debate. Godfrey just called him a space terrorist. Like, what does that even mean? Godfrey, your job is to whine in front of a camera while we had to save peoples from burning buildings. Your argument is invalid. We've been playing this game for like four years now. We've done nothing but try to put the cards on the table and save people's life as much as possible. So if you're going to accuse us of say, being misogynist, that's just wrong. I'm a female and I can confirm that."

"Well, that's great." Moderator said. "I think it's best if you just ignore them all. They're... really pushing it hard."

"All they can do - a friendly warning for you too, Mr. Godfrey - is just to tweet and whine." Raven said. "They never actually do something significant. Like, I'm surprised for a social activist, their activities never consist of helping out the poor or charities or donations to the ones who need. As a Titan, we made around two billion dollars every month thanks to most of our sponsors. We used those money as much as possible for defense and if we have spares, we donate them to different charities. We've attended so many of them. I'm so happy that we can use those money for something good. We support many peoples that deserve support. These guys just sit and whine, sit and whine."

"It's really annoying, isn't it?"

"Biggest understatement of the year."

##

Back on the Titans Tower, Raven read some book on the lounge. There wasn't anyone around to talk to. That is until Beast Boy came in to ruin the mood.

"So how was the podcast?" Beast Boy asked.

"It was nice." Raven said. "We went for like two or three hours, but it's never boring."

"So it's just you talking to the guy?" Beast Boy said. "He's not getting personal at you, right?"

"Oh Beast Boy." Raven said. "Are you jealous?"

"What, no!" Beast Boy said. "I'm just worried, you know?"

"Beast Boy, it's a podcast, not a zombie trying to eat me."

"The guy sure looks like a zombie."

Raven groaned.

##

_A/N: Just a little tidbit to fit in the time. Sorry for being a bit political. Recent things had been quite unfriendly._

_So yeah, the month break is still going but that's mostly because I'm still constructing a perfect plot. I just got accepted at a well-known university and all I can do is just to re-register back. So I have some time to actually construct the plot. I'm going to write more of this to fill in the time if I have the time, but for now, thanks for reading this extra. :)_


	23. Amusing Things

C23: Amusing Things Sometimes she questioned how the things in the past come into what they were. Sometimes she questioned how and what has brought her into the events that has happened in the past. The last raid on the mall was one of the weirdest, if not, the weirdest experiences that she had in her entire life. If it wasn't for the mass looting, she had to carry a bow shooting stun arrows on a bunch of looters while a giant green werewolf fighting another giant werewolf but this time it's purple.

It was a trip, a very trippy trip if that made any sense. Nothing made sense last time. Her neighbor all this time is a member of the Titans and is someone who can run very fast. His girlfriend is actually her from another universe. He himself came from another universe by god knows how. The speed might have caught him off guard, or perhaps he just spent his entire time breaking treadmills.

All of these things are worth discussing. It was quite the event happened in the morning. Both didn't really have time to discuss it during lunch because she had to do her work in the laundry first. Despite Wally's stuff still being inside his room, he isn't seen around. He'll probably be back. They're going to need a lot of discussion.

"So that's what really happened last morning?" Paula said. "My god. I wish I would've been there."

"Wally was there to protect me, Mom." Artemis said. "Not only that, but he also had his friends from the Titans. I'm not sure why Green Arrow wasn't there, though. I'd love to meet him if that kind of trouble rises."

"Maybe he's a vampire in disguise." Paula said. "Or maybe his entire outfit is photosynthetic."

Artemis giggled. "Photosynthetic? That doesn't make any sense. What, he's getting too much energy from going outside in the day and he's going to explode? Come on, Mom."

"I don't know. I'm just speculating, sweetie." Paula said. "It's absurd, but you can't deny that someone like him is probably not so well in the head."

"You know, I would love to be in that green outfit. I just want to know how it feels like in it." Artemis said. "Especially if it's photosynthetic. I'd love to feel that."

Paula giggled. "You said that you were back to your archery saddle. How does it feel?"

"It feels... really good actually." Artemis said. "I mean I didn't even think that I would, but god it feels great when I did. I shoot some guys, looters hired by the supervillain Inertia. I was supplied with stun arrows so it didn't really end well for them. Hey, I think being dead is better than being in prison."

"That's... not entirely true, dear." Paula said. "I'm never happier that I rehabilitated, now that I have you here. Everyone deserves a second chance."

"Yeah." Artemis said. "I just wish that dad and sis could feel how it feels like being... normal, you know?"

"I know very well." Paula said. "How about Wally? Do you think he isn't normal with his... superhero friends and powers?"

"I... I honestly don't know." Artemis said. "I mean I've never been a Titan, nor have I ever meet any of them. I mean I saw them briefly, and they talk like normal peoples. They joke, they laugh, all those stuff. I definitely can say that to Wally. He's really nice and funny and everything. He's a liar sure, but he's really nice. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have been here and that psycho supervillain would get me over."

"Maybe he believes that lying would protect you from trouble." Paula said. "I personally don't believe that. That's why I tell you everything, all of it. I think that knowing is power to make you prepare for what needs to happen in the future."

"I agree." Artemis said. "He has apologized, though. So there's that."

Artemis took a sip on the Rosemary tea that her mother just made. To be perfectly honest, after tasting both what Wally made for her and what her mother just made, she was quite surprised that she preferred Wally's, and she loved her mother's tea.

"You know, Wally made me a Rosemary tea that morning." Artemis said. "I'm not saying that I hate yours, mom, but if I have to be honest, he made it so much better than you are."

"What?" Paula said. "That's absurd!"

"I knew you would say that." Artemis smiled. "No really, his Rosemary is good. Like, really good. I can't describe it. It really calmed my nerves down."

"Did he gather that from Alice?"

"Yeah... and speaking of Alice." Artemis said. "Alice... is actually me."

"What?" Paula said. "How? You just met him!"

"Yeah, I know. It's crazy." Artemis said. "I've never met him. I've never dated him. I've never even slept with him. And yet he has pictures, and even videos of all of those happening. The only explanation that I can take is that this 'Alice' person is me from another universe, and I was quite literally right. Wally came from an alternate universe. You better shouldn't ask and just admit that it exist. I didn't question anything after seeing those disturbingly identical pictures."

"That explains the necklace."

"That totally explains the necklace." Artemis said. "Also, abusive father, divorced parents, sounds familiar? He knows everything about me because I'm his girlfriend from another universe. If that's not the craziest thing that I heard, I don't know what is."

"So if I may ask, does thing have to happen the same way as in the neighboring universe?"

"I... hm..." Artemis scratched her chin. "It doesn't have to be, you know? I mean can I not be his girlfriend? It's not that I don't want to but it's possible right? Things don't have to be that case you know?"

"I thought you said he's really nice."

"Yeah, and that's it." Artemis said. "He brought me for a lunch. We play on the arcades. He's a really fun guy. He's nothing more than that."

"Artemis..."

"That's true, mom!" Artemis said. "He's nothing more than just that, okay? Stop pressuring me to like him! For god's sake."

"And honestly I do not mind." Paula said. "Wally is a very nice boy. If you're happy with him, or with someone else that you love, I would let you. All I want for you is to be happy."

"Thanks mom, but I don't love him." Artemis said. "I like him, but not that much. I have no doubts that Wally did make me happy, but I doubt that we're going to be... like... romantic partners, you know?"

"Ouch."

A voice is heard from the back. They were the only two feminine voice in the entire room, so it was quite the shock that they had to hear a masculine voice out of the blue. Artemis turned herself around to find out that it was actually Wally, leaning against the wall and crossing his hands.

"Your door is open." Wally said. "I figure that I just come in."

"You just broke in and spied on us." Artemis said. "Okay, you're not from another universe. You're an obsessed freak."

Wally giggled. "You can say that again... and it would still be wrong. Although I admit you're not wrong on the freak part. I am sort of one."

"You are a freak, okay?" Artemis said. "How the hell can you run that fast?"

"What do you mean how? I was trained to be a runner back in High School." Wally said. "I can run twice as someone like Usain Bolt."

"'Twice' as fast?" Artemis scoffed. "Biggest understatement of all time."

"Okay, I got struck by lightning and went into a coma for about nine months." Wally said. "My uncle said that it's like the Earth is pregnant for me."

"Whatever." Artemis said. "What are you doing here?"

"Artemis, don't be rude to the guest." Paula said, noticing her slightly discomforting tone. "Wally, is there something we can help with?"

"Oh nothing." Wally said. "I'm just packing out."

"So the entire reason why you moved in is because of me?"

"Yes." Wally said. "I know who you are. I know who your dad is. I even know who your sister is. But the most important part is that I know you're not a bad person. I'm not saying that neither your father nor your sister don't deserve protection, but I'm saying that you're going to need more of it."

"What do you know about my sister?"

"Well, Jade knew who killed your dad, her dad too by the way." Wally said. "She probably quits the job. She was originally with Inertia, but she probably calls it quit."

"She was with that psycho?" Artemis said. "Why?"

"Because money." Wally said. "She's a mercenary assassin of some sort. Of course it's all going to be money."

"Christ." Artemis said. "Can you uh... get me in contact with her?"

"Now Artemis," Paula said. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"I know." Artemis said. "I just... want to clear things up. I just want to meet her, as family, not as enemies or something like that."

"Hm..." Wally said. "I'll try. If I could find her, I'll get you in contact. She might be around in the funeral, though."

"Will you be there?" Artemis said.

"I don't know." Wally shrugged. "It depends. If trouble happens and only the Titans can deal with it, maybe I won't be. But for now, I'll try my best."

"Oh." Artemis said.

"Again, I'm really sorry for everything." Wally said. "I lied to you. I'm being dishonest. I didn't explain everything. I should. I've imagined all scenarios where I did tell you, but you'll not going to take it well."

"He's right." Paula said. "I certainly could not believe myself that he was from another universe, let alone believing that he's a part of teenage superheroes."

"Fine. I'm over that." Artemis said.

"So why are you so angry right now?" Wally said. "Last time I checked, you were just fine."

"I'm..." Artemis said. "Okay. I won't be, as long as you're not making me angry."

"I did." Wally said. "And I'm sorry."

Artemis bit her lips. There was nothing else to discuss at that night. There was no topics that she could get against Wally at this moment. Sure, she's quite pissed that he lied to her, but he admitted that and he apologized for it. What else did she want? How did her expectations of him got so high?

"Do you need anything else?" Artemis said.

"I heard that you enjoy being on the Titans."

"What?" Artemis said. "I didn't say that!"

"I talked to Speedy." Wally said. "She noticed that you were good, but still rough on the edges. She said that you're a bit rusty."

"You might notice that I didn't have a lot of time to practice." Artemis said. "Of course I'm rusty."

"Do you want not to get rusty?"

Artemis raised her eyebrows. "I... maybe, but that means I have to leave my mom here."

"That's fine, Artemis." Paula said. "It brings me so much comfort to know that you're out there fighting for the right cause. It brings me so much comfort that peoples will see you for the good you have done rather than the bad."

"I... are you sure, mom?" Artemis said. "But how about your... heart condition?"

"I've never bring up that topic at all, haven't I?" Paula said. "My heart is fine, dear, better if you're out there. Don't get me wrong, I would love to see you actually work for the laundry, but someone is offering you a better job in there than the Olympics."

"And maybe you should also cancel your connections with those." Wally said.

"I did, didn't I?" Artemis said. "Okay, I probably didn't."

"So let's get that on check, shall we?" Wally said. "So how about it? Do you want to?"

At this moment, both her mother and Wally's optimistic face managed to distract her from the actual decision that she wanted to make. Should the Titans really be her destiny? Maybe this time she could make a whole lot of difference.

"You already had an archer in your team, right?" Artemis said.

"Yeah sure." Wally said. "Doesn't mean that it's wrong to have another. I mean we have like three Titans who can only depend with gadgets and technically two robots."

"If I say yes, what should I do?"

"Just pack your bags, call me at anytime, and remember to call your mom." Wally said. "Oh and next week, we're having a night party in a hotel. It's a welcome party for me and the other speedster who is my uh... distant nephew I guess. You can come by just in time if you want."

"You have a nephew?"

"He's my uncle's grandson from the future." Wally said. "I know. It's complicating."

"God, what is it with you speedsters and universes?" Artemis said. "Anyway, if I'm packing my bags right now, would you help me?"

"So that's a yes?"

"What else can you interpret that with?"

"Woo! Score one for Wally West!" Wally threw his arm. "Um... sorry. So uh... packing. Oh and uh... should I still call you Artemis or Cissie?"

"Just Cissie, please." Cissie said. "I mean, I love my old name, but I have an identity, you know?"

"So Cissie Jones." Wally said. "Welcome to the Titans."

Packing her bags didn't really take a while. Wally didn't use his super speed, so both of them were only able to pack in less than five minutes. She didn't know what to expect of the Titans. Sure, they did save the day, but they weren't like a society or something like that. She didn't even know how many Titans members are they, nor did she know how it has grown since the Brotherhood attack.

"Nervous?" Wally asked.

"Well, not really." Cissie said. "I'm still trying to make some sense on why you're trying to recruit me of all peoples."

"Are you kidding me? You kicked a lot of bad guy's butts, and you did it great." Wally said. "You're going to be a full member or an honorary member, that's totally up to you. We have honorary members too inside the Titans."

"Really?" Cissie said. "Well, who are the honorary Titans and where are they?"

"Well, they're mostly taking patrols on their own city." Wally said. "We have Bluebird, Zatanna, Bumblebee, Traci 13, Oracle, Nightwing, and some others. Nightwing is retired though, but I heard Oracle is still active."

"I didn't even know any of those names." Cissie said. "So how are they honorary?"

"Because they don't really have a full time staying on the Titans Tower." Wally said. "I think being honorary takes a lot more responsibility. You have to not show peoples that you're a member of one."

"I think that applies to every superhero ever." Cissie said. "So um... I know I'm going to sound like a greedy duck, but do all of you get paid for doing all of this?"

"Yeah, of course we do." Wally said. "We were sponsored by lots of big corporations and we were paid every day. Some of our members are rich peoples with a billion dollars every week on their banks."

"Wally?"

It was no secret that Paula wanted to have a chat with her daughter before going all of this. Paula, who was standing up right near the doorway, interrupted their dialogues with a call of his name.

"I'd love to speak to Cissie for a moment." Paula said. "If you don't mind."

"Oh no. Not at all." Wally said. "She's your daughter. Go nuts. I mean... not literally, but..."

Cissie smiled. "We get it, Wally."

Wally left the bedroom. It's all up to Cissie and Paula to do the talking. Paula was smiling on the doorway and honestly, there was something deeper beyond that smile.

"Are you nervous?" Paula began.

Cissie giggled. "Wally asked the same question."

"He does care for you, doesn't he?"

"Yeah." Cissie said. "That's because I used to be his girlfriend. We've been through this a couple of times."

"Yes we have." Paula said. "So maybe, just maybe, you'll find someone more interesting in the Titans."

"Are you sure mom? A bunch of freaks with superpowers are actually interesting?" Cissie said. "What kind of world am I living in?"

"It doesn't really matter, Cissie." Paula said. "But what does matter is that you're out there, and you're saving the world. That's what's matter."

"I'm honestly quite concerned when they're being slandered by the news."

"You know that's not true." Paula said. "I never trusted news since they're mostly on a bunch of rich peoples' payroll. The Titans are still fighting regardless of that, so I think you should be proud of it."

Cissie smiled, just in time where all of her bags are packed. Instead of taking any more time, she marched herself into her mother and hugged her tight in the warmest possible hug that she had ever given her. It's going to be one of the few times that she's going to see her, but there's a totally different world for her to find out there, and it should be fun.

"Like you said once," Paula said. "It should be fun."

"Yeah," Cissie said. "It should definitely be." 


	24. Signing Up

C24: Signing Up

She always wondered how the Titans Tower looked like. It was one of the most mysterious places that no one in the face of the planet has any clue of where it was located. Rumors said that it was like some sort of a bunker or a tall five star apartment, but no one had actually seen it. It brought a lot of curiosity in her head, and she can't wait to find the real answer.

At this moment, they're both riding Wally's black Ford Mustang. She actually froze the moment Wally brought that car in right in front of her apartment. The sleek metallic dark black painting, the dark tint of the windows to conceal identity, it was almost like a government car, and she was still thinking how could someone like Wally West afford something like that.

That is until Wally told her it was his friend's car. It totally destroyed the mystery.

"So are we going to the Tower?" Cissie asked. "I always wondered how it looked like."

"We're not going there." Wally said. "Like I said, we have a party. The whole Titans are in there."

"All of them? In costume?"

"No." Wally said. "They're on civilian mode. It's going to be not as fun dancing in costumes."

"I guess that's true." Cissie said. "So we're going to a hotel?"

"Yup." Wally said. "We're going to check in and from that moment on, we'll going to party until the night. It's going to be tons of fun. You brought in your formal dresses?"

"Yeah, I did." Cissie said. "You Titans also have a party?"

"Are you kidding? Of course we do!" Wally said. "Just because we're the Titans doesn't mean that we can't have fun."

"How many Titans are there?"

"You just need to wait and see." Wally said. "Oh and do us all the favor and never refer us to Titans because this time, we're not Titans. We don't talk about Titans when we're in our civilian suits and especially when we're in a party."

"Oh okay." Cissie said. "So... what should I refer you to?"

"Replace the word 'Titans' with 'Forum'. It worked quite well." Wally said. "And refer all of us in our real names, never superhero names or codenames."

"Got it."

##

They arrived at the hotel at approximately 7PM. Things get rather quirky to say the least. The hotel itself was about the size of a rocket. The large fountain and the front garden stretched about as far as an olympics track. If it wasn't for the size and scope, it had to be for how bring the hotel looked even when the sun is beginning to set. All that Cissie could do was to be dumbfounded by the lack of inexpensive things. She swore that the lamps could at least cost about the same as working five months in her laundromat.

"Five star?"

"Oh hell yes." Wally answered. "It's about as good as you could think of."

The moment they arrived on the hotel, which for the record wasn't too far ahead from the apartment, someone quite famous stepped in the front lobby as if he already knew that Wally was coming in. Who's the person? Damian Wayne of all people, the young enterpreneur and owner of the Wayne Enterprises business, probably not exactly the manager of all things.

If there was one thing that her mother got right this time is that perhaps there is someone interesting that she could pursue in the Titans... ehm... forum. Damian dressed up like he was about to meet up with the Queen of England: A black suit with a black tie and white shirt underneath with formal trousers. Very proper, stylish, and shockingly handsome in just the sight of an eye.

"Holy shit." Cissie said. "Is that who I think it is?"

"Yup."

"Is he... you know... a part of the Tit... I mean forum?"

"Double yup."

She couldn't find other ways to express her surprise. "And I guess this must be his car?"

"Triple yup."

Perhaps he didn't mean any disrespect, but Wally dressed up with a T-shirt you could get from a local thrift shop and jeans about as cheap as a candy bar, hopefully not too tight for him to run around in supersonic speed. If he somehow got himself into a car of someone who would enter a presidential debate, then probably he should dress better in front of the young billionaire.

The car stopped just right in front of him. Cissie went out of the car first, but Wally didn't turn the engines off, possibly because Damian wanted to get his car back off of the cheap rascal. Damian actually opened the car for him. Either he was impatient or Wally had quite the privilege, definitely not the latter.

"I hope it's not too rough." Damian began. His voice was deep, masculine, and pierced straight through her ears. "I'll take it to the lot."

"Sure." Wally said. "So have you seen Kory?"

"She's not here yet." Damian said. "But when she does, I'm sure she's going to look very lovely."

"So did you order a room for her or are you going to sleep with her?"

"I um..." Damian said. "I... haven't checked. I would prefer if we do."

Wally giggled. Of course, someone like him has a girlfriend. Who would ever think? That's quite the missed opportunity for her.

"She's still... untainted, right?" Wally asked.

"To be honest, no." Damian said. "Her homeland had suffered an uncomfortable history. There is a good chance that her nobility was spoiled."

A girlfriend who suffered from a troubled past _and_ came from another country with a trouble so big that she had the chance to endure rape during her childhood? Wayne family was no stranger to controversy but dating someone like that sounds a bit off.

"That's too bad." Wally said. "Oh and uh, this is Cissie Jones. I'm sure I've talked about her before."

Just the fact that Damian actually glanced at her with those blue eyes of him should at least caused her to faint, but she resisted the urge to do so as Damian offered her a hand.

"Ms. Jones." Damian began. "I'm pleased to finally meet you in person."

"Mr... Wayne." Cissie shook his hands back. "I'm... also very honored."

"She's a bit nervous." Wally said. "I mean it's not like there aren't any other members in the forum that aren't famous peoples... oh wait there are."

"Yes, we do have a lot of famous peoples in the forum." Damian said. "Thankfully our interactions are non-disclosure and specifically unrelated to our job. I'm very sure that Wally would give you a fair welcome."

"Thank you." Cissie said.

"Now please do check in." Damian said, about to enter his car. "It would be a spectacular party, tonight. I'll meet you both at dinner with other attendees."

Damian entered the car and drove away his black Mustang. The hotel staffs got their baggages on a trolley and waited for the two to make a move inside. Wally could only grin as Cissie were completely flabbergasted just by his presence.

"Oh my god." Cissie said. "He is so... hot."

"You can say that right in front of his girlfriend and you'll going to get quite the appropriate response."

"Shut up!"

##

It didn't take long for Artemis to come into her room at the third floor. Even on a hotel with a bunch of staffs and building as tall as the Eifel Tower, they did not waste a single time on crafting the details of every single room. The orange tint exposed by the bright LED orange lights shimmering throughout the room could only make it more elegant. The red carpet strolling from one part of the room into another just sealed the deal for her.

Her room was flourished with the relaxing aroma of lavender. Her bed was crafted with silks that would make your body feel like floating in the air. The walls were covered in wallpapers with simple consistent textures. Unlike the hallways, the room was thankfully more neutral on the colors with a white light on two of her bed and a slight purple to make it more neutral.

She honestly thought that she was going to be alone on this room. Well, one was actually reserved just in case she actually came in. She couldn't possibly guess on who would actually be at the same room with her: Someone else about as famous as Damian Wayne right now who had been active on the film industry and was the relative to one of the billionaires of Starling City.

Mia Queen.

"I knew you would come." Mia said, crossing her hands on the back of her head. "Great room, don't you think?"

"M... Mia Queen?" Cissie began. "Okay, I just..."

"Can you stay just right there?"

Mia stood out of her bed. She circled her hand on Cissie's shoulder and took her phone in the air. She could barely emote for the selfie and Mia just pressed in a button that would take her picture. Mia took her hands off of her shoulder and focused on sharing the picture on the social media.

"Do you have a Twitter Account?" Mia said. "Nevermind. I got it. I'll tag you on the pic."

"What?" Cissie said. "Hey, give me that!"

"I can take pictures anytime I want, lady." Mia sway her phones away from Cissie's reach. "You remember that."

Cissie groaned. "At least let me emote."

"Emote?" Mia giggled. "You might as well take your bags and put on some makeup. That's a waste of everyone's time."

"Are you a part of the forum or not?"

"Can't you tell?" Mia said. "I sent it."

"What?"

Cissie's phone rang. She glanced at the picture and found the photo to be... surprisingly not as bad as she thought.

"Thank god I didn't look so ugly."

"Really? You care about how ugly you look and yet you're here about to join the forum?" Mia said. "Grow a pair. Someone photoshopped me as a giant hippo last month. The entire forum got slandered by Lex News every week."

"Oh, I'm very sorry." Cissie said. "Slander or not, no more pictures."

Mia smirked. "I can tell you're going to be so much fun."

"Oh, I'm in hell." Cissie said. "Can I switch into another room, please?"

"Sure you could." Mia said. "But in that case, you're going to have to sleep a double beed with Wally West."

"On second thought, no." Cissie said. "I guess I'm fine sleeping with a billionaire who bullies me with selfies."

"That's the spirit." Mia said. "We're going to need a lot more practice with your arrows too, lady. You still suck at shooting."

Cissie widened her eyes. "Wait, it was you?"

"Yup." Mia said. "Should I reintroduce myself again?"

"So let me get this straight: Wally West is a speedster, Damian is god knows what, and Mia Queen is someone who shoots arrows at bad guys." Cissie said. "I... I need to take a shower."

##

After taking the comforting hot shower, all of the forum members are invited into a dinner for a discussion and a bit of celebration for the new members who are quite indeed still in the place. Cissie went out of the room with her formal clothes: A simple light-yellow gown courtesy of the prom clothings that she once wore during High School. Thankfully it still does fit, and thankfully it didn't really cost much.

Mia herself was groomed with a black gown strolling all the way to her feet. There was a bit of a cut on the side of the lap, potentially revealing her nasty bit. Someone was going to get an eye on it. Oh, who was she kidding? The moment they did, their eyes would be penetrated by a sharp metal. No doubt that her clothing was about as expensive as a car as well.

"You look amazing." Mia said. "You're going to fit very well with those."

"So does the dress code says anything about color?"

"Not really." Mia said. "Everyone's going to wear different clothes. That's going to make things a lot more colorful, you know? I like the bright yellow touches, fits with your hair."

"Yeah, that's why mom bring me this one in the first place." Cissie said. "I don't think I have to say that you look amazing on those. You could already tell from my face. Did your mom choose that for you?"

"No, I picked this one myself." Mia said. "Since mom died, I left most of the clothes that she bought for me for when I'm like really happy or something."

"I'm sorry about that." Cissie said. "I heard she was being stabbed. Bad family?"

"Actually it's bad business." Mia said. "You know how it goes. Nothing personal, stab, pay five thousand more for just a funeral. Nobody wins."

"Just because of business?"

"Just because of business."

"Fuck me." Cissie said. "That's horrible."

"Rich peoples have problems too." Mia said. "Except we're rich. Get it?"

Cissie groaned. "I prefer to just forget that."

Someone knocked on the door. Cissie went in to open the door first only to reveal a woman and a man on their late 20s in formal clothings. One is a stunningly beautiful blonde woman with a dark purple gown almost in a similar fashion as the one Mia wore, and the other one is a man with typical formal clothing and a short hair.

"Um... evening." Cissie said.

"Good Evening! My name is Stephanie Brown." Stephanie said, shaking Cissie's hand. "And this is my fiancé Tim Drake."

"Hello." Tim shook her hands. "Wally said a lot of things about you, Cissie... well... technically not 'you' but I think you get what I mean."

"I do." Cissie said. "He's weird."

"Trust me, the entire forum is filled with a bunch of weirdos." Stephanie said. "It makes things a whole lot more colorful, you know?"

"Fiancé?" Mia sneaked in from the back. "Last time I checked, you were still... you know..."

"Tim proposed to me just when we're buying some clothes." Stephanie said.

"Oh, congratulations." Cissie said. "When's the wedding?"

"We're still planning on it." Tim said. "But for now, please keep this between us because we're going to have to announce it in the party."

"Oh and also some retirement plans." Stephanie said. "We're going to retire somewhere in Gotham City probably. Not the best places to retire, but it feels more like home there."

"You all from Gotham?" Cissie asked.

"Yes, we are." Stephanie said. "So is there anything else? We're going back down."

"Oh, nothing." Cissie said. "We're ready."

"Then let's get to the party."


	25. Associates

C25: Associates

The party took place right on the ground floor around the conference room, which Damian must have bought with all of his money just for the forum alone since there was absolutely no one in there other than the peoples that are a part of the forum and the waiters and waitresses. Even then, the waiters only pop up once in a while to bring in some of the food and they did nothing else.

The rest of the forum members wore all the typical formal clothing they could get. Perhaps the party could be a hell of a lot more interesting if they chose to wear something about as nasty as a caveman attires, but for what it is now it's quite eye-catching enough. The boys wear suits and ties looking about as classy as ever while the girls wear very colorful gowns, probably matching with the superhero costume that they wore during the job.

If that's the case, then Cissie probably should've considered wearing green. She loved green.

"Cissie!"

Wally said in the distance as she noticed her and ignored his three other friends that just popped up in the back. Wally marched in right towards her and gave her a welcoming party.

"Glad you came." Wally said. "Sorry if Mia is bringing you some troubles."

"Don't worry. She didn't bother me as much now." Cissie said.

"Try me." Mia said.

"So you have met Stephanie and Tim." Wally said.

"Your girlfriend is really nice, Wally." Stephanie said.

"He's not..."

"She's not..."

Apparently, both characters were starting to correlate with each other on their relationship. The moment they said those words, they gawked at each other as if one of them just farted or something.

Stephanie could only giggle. "Oh, you aren't? I thought you were."

"My real girl is in another universe. I can't believe that's going to be a daily phrase." Wally said. "As long as she's not going to cheat with anyone, I'm not going to cheat with her, even if it's another universe version of her."

"Shut up, Wally!" Stephanie said. "You're hurting her feelings!"

"Help me. I'm feeling oppressed. You sexist." Cissie said in the most nonchalant of ways.

Wally giggled, followed by Stephanie, Tim, and Mia in the back.

"Come on!" Wally said. "I'll show you around. You're going to meet other cooler peoples."

"You go ahead." Stephanie said. "I'm going to get some soda with Tim"

"I'll see you later, then!"

Wally brought her into a more crowded place of the party. It was a place where peoples were holding a glass of wine, undoubtedly expensive and probably must be only for the most privileged of classes. They were hanging around and talking like actual normal human beings would, a sight that couldn't be more surprising as she entered the forum herself.

From what she could see, there were four peoples hanging around the wine bottles and talking: One is a bulky Caucasian with dark hair. He's holding the shoulder of probably his girlfriend with the same dark hair except longer and a gown with glittering stars on it. One is a red-head female with a green gown. The other one is an even bulkier African-American man. Perhaps she should retract her thinking about the forum because these peoples look quite intimidating.

Wally approached the four like it was just a normal stroll in the evening. He gave some introductions to all of the names, which of course she won't have the memory to remember all of them, although she could remember some of their traits.

"Cissie, these are my friends and they're a part of the forum too." Wally said.

"I really couldn't tell." Cissie said.

A bit of formality and introductions later and she learned that the bulky man is named Conner. His girlfriend (glad she got that correct) is Donna. The red-head is Megan and the African-American man is Victor.

"We're glad to finally see you in person." Donna said. "Wally has talked quite a lot about you."

"He did." Megan said. "We were actually best friends and-"

"Uh, Megan?" Wally interrupted. "Let's not share any information from the other universe? I mean it's from another universe. How irrelevant could it be?"

"Right! I'm sorry." Megan said. "But anyway, we're glad to have you on the forum! We're going to have an amazing discussion."

"I honestly don't even know what you guys are even going to debate." Cissie said. "Does the forum have any sorts of um... terms and conditions before applying? It has to have one, right?"

"We do have a few, girl." Victor said. "First rule: Never drink a bottle of Brandy past twelve."

"Oh now you're screwing around." Conner replied, causing everyone to giggle for some reason. "What? It was an accident! I honestly think that I couldn't get drunk, but I don't know what kind of Brandy that is."

"Specialized mix from the 50s from your most evil New York Mafia." Victor said, causing an amused reaction from everyone.

"No wonder she had to be kept in STAR Labs for a few months." Megan said. "Poor thing. I miss her just strolling around the tower for a few months."

"She's going to be just fine." Donna said. "I checked up on him. If Conner does that again, I'll make sure I whip out his most sensitive parts."

"I'm sorry, okay?" Conner said. "It's my dog too. I feel guilty about it."

"Wait a second, Conner feeling guilty?" Megan said. "Are you sure? Is that even you?"

"Sorry to interrupt, but it sounds like you guys are talking about a sick dog." Cissie said.

"Yeah, that's kind of the thing." Victor said. "Conner here had a huge dog in his house and he accidentally pour a Brandy to his food bucket. I knew your kinds couldn't get intoxicated but damn. That was just stupid."

"Well, I hope that your dog can get better." Cissie said. "Maybe I should hang out with other members of the team."

"Oh sure." Donna said. "Again Cissie, we love to have you on the team."

"Just make sure you shoot straight and kick some bad guy's ass while you're doing it." Victor said.

"Thanks."

Cissie and Wally wondered off from the group and instead went to the other parts. There was a blonde guy who sat on a table just right near a girl with a pale skin and some seriously jaded, unimpressed expression on her behalf.

"So who are those two there?" Cissie asked.

"That's uh... Rachel." Wally said, pointing at the girl. "The one besides her is Garfield. They're still a proto-couple if you know what I mean."

"Like what we are right now?"

"Are you interested?"

"No!"

"Then let's not think like that." Wally said. "You want to know them?"

"What? I mean sure."

Wally and Cissie approached the two characters just in time as Rachel made her comment on the entire fiasco.

"This is a wonderful party." Rachel said in the most monotonous voice and the most jaded of expressions. "I'm very impressed."

"It's not as wonderful if Kory didn't show her face." Garfield said.

"I am so jealous."

"Really?" Garfield said. "You're... jealous of me going with Star?"

"I can't believe you're stupid enough not to notice sarcasm."

"No, you weren't being sarcastic Rachel!" Garfield said. "Admit it!"

Rachel groaned.

"Hey Rae." Wally said. "Just ignore Garfield. He's making things slightly worse."

"Hey!" Garfield shrieked.

Rachel giggled.

"Oh and this is Cissie Jones." Wally said. "I'm sure I've talked about her with my universe name version of her."

"Yeah, I know." Rachel offered her hand. "Pleasure."

"You too." Cissie said. "You're... you sound like that chick from the podcast."

"Oh wow, someone actually listened." Rachel said. "I appreciate that, but I'm just sharing my views."

"They're very interesting views and they're very true." Cissie said. "It's not pointless at all. Someone needs to have a voice against these prudes, and a voice from a significant forum member like you is important."

"Wait, what voice?" Wally asked.

"Voicing against total misinformation, propaganda against the forum, and sensible peoples, basically anything that you would consider Orwellian." Cissie said. "I've read 1984 for my English Class a few years ago and I had to re-read it again to make sure that I get the critique for the authoritarian government now going to be practiced by Lex Luthor. It was very compelling."

"I'm glad you like it. It was one of my favorites." Rachel said. "It was definitely at the top partly because the things that are happening there are surprisingly more relevant today. Peoples growing up have been fixated on identity politics and using their role as either a women or a minority as a shield to make free allegations of what the whole forum didn't really do. They're going to silence us for free speech, subsequently creating a world of communism and authoritarian practices."

"I think the lesson for today is let's not be someone that they're accusing us." Wally said. "In most cases, their judgment is true about themselves."

"That's a good lesson." Rachel said. "Except we aren't discriminating against anyone in the first place, probably criminals or mass murderers or anyone associated with the Brotherhood but still. Peoples were quite critical of the Gotham vigilantes when they popped up. Now, they practically made the GCPD better. They have considered hiring more idealistic rookies than experienced con artists."

"Also, if you're going to talk about bigotry and racism, you should check out To Kill a Mockingbird." Garfield said. "I read that as a kid once and I'm actually quite scared that the entire justice system would actually turn around on me not based on evidence, but based on biased judgment."

"Wow, Gar." Rachel said, this time in a genuine tone of surprise. "I never thought you actually read books."

"I've read books all my life, Rae." Garfield said. "Before all of this, I was an introverted bookworm from Gotham Academy who got bullied because peoples think that I got STD or something. Now I'm a superhero who can turn to animals, having all animal senses which for the record includes spider webs and goldfish's UV eyes, and I can lift any object fifty times heavier than me."

Oh, so this was the green giant werewolf that she encountered last time. From once a green man, now is a blonde guy with a normal Caucasian skin. What a significant difference.

Rachel smiled. "Yeah, keep bragging about yourself, Gar. That's going to make you look credible. Besides, we're in a forum. It would be appreciated if you're not disclosing your vital information to total strangers. We're need to be a lot less transparent."

"Oh um... I'm sorry. My bad." Garfield giggled. "So um... have you seen Damian?"

"Is that him with Kory?"

Rachel pointed out to the door entrance where Damian and this Kory chick came out. She was honestly going to punch whoever this chick is if she turned out to be a (subjectively) horrid looking person. The moment Kory got into her glance, she dropped whatever kind of pretext she had about bullying her.

She's not only a red-head - the type of girl that guy seems to really dig on the past few years - but she's also ridiculously hot. Her long hair stretched just a bit lower off her shoulder. Her vibrant green eyes were glimmering vibrantly perhaps more so than the actual lights around the room. Her dress was a pink gown all the way from the top to bottom fitting to her part of her body, not as bulky of a bodybuilder like Stephanie has shown to be but fit enough for a superhero role. Her skin was significantly darker than Damian, a bit Native American to her observation. Even then, her looks widened her eyes.

Damian had an amazing taste for women, and she's so jealous that she couldn't fit with his criteria.

"Here we are, love." Damian said. "Everyone is having a good time so far."

"This is glorious! Simply magnificent!" Kory said with her voice, about as innocent as a kindergarten girl. She was clapping her hands too like a fangirl near a boyband concert. "I cannot wait for this party to begin! We should definitely begin the celebration!"

Cissie and Wally walked in closer to him. As Damian noticed her coming in closer, Damian retracted his intentions to begin the show as soon as possible and instead focus more on the newest member.

"I think you should meet up with the newest member in the forum." Damian said. "Kory, this is Cissie Jones."

"By the Tamarans, you look wonderful!" Kory said... whatever that means. "And you are well-acquainted with Wally, yes?"

"Yes, but not as well as you think." Cissie said. "We're just friends."

"That's a shame." Kory said. "I do not intend to force you and Wally to be acquainted more than what you are. I just wished that you can meet that special kind of person."

"It's a bit too soon to ask for someone who just met each, don't you think?" Cissie said. 

"Forgive me. I am not accustomed to introductions." Kory said. "I am not very familiar on greeting new individuals. It took me a lot of time to acclimatize with it."

"Yeah... sure." Cissie said, again confused of whatever that phrase means. "Anyway, maybe you should begin the party."

"Right." Damian said. "Now perhaps you would have the honor to lead us to the podium, love?"

"I will!" Kory said. "Right this way!"

##

"So uh... welcome everyone in another celebration party." Damian said. "Like I said, I'm really hoping that this party would be just as good if not better than the last. This party is being held in celebration to our newest recruits in the forums. First is Wally West, a speedster from another universe. Then there's his um..."

"Nephew." Wally shouted.

"Nephew, Bart Allen." Damian said. "He's also a speedster from another universe and I'm really hoping that with the addition of the two speedsters, we're going to create a more flexible team in the future. We already have lots of members and lots of honorary ones, some who will be coming a bit late this evening, so I'm hoping that this group that we have is going to make a better future for Earth and mankind."

That got a standing ovation from the entire group. Cissie followed in as well.

"Now before I start, let's be a bit serious on the news here." Damian said. "Since Luthor took steps on the presidency, he will use his power to basically cause more damage to the Titans' reputation. Last week, I have sent Rachel to represent us with a podcast to give her views to the voiceless and I think she did a spectacular job at it. Well done, Rachel. Give some applause."

And a spectacular job that was. Cissie clapped in for Rachel, who could only giggle and have a bit of blush on her.

"Like what she said, our reputation, which are painted with false accusations, will not condone us from doing what we do best." Damian said. "And that is helping those who need us the most. Whatever kind of move President Luthor is going to make, we simply won't give up at that point. We're going to rise up, cock our weapons, and be ready for another battle. To quote Victor: That's how we roll, bitch."

Another standing ovation, with the addition of some giggles and laughter.

"For Wally's information, our formidable foe Inertia is where he belongs." Damian said. "He's now being detained and under the watch of several guards. Thanks to the serum once made by Doctor Palmer, he's not going to be running a lot through at least the next few years. The last assignment, despite some issues, was quite the success, and it's what drove Cissie Jones to join us in the forums. Let's not forget Garfield who is brave enough to take down his own mentor, Mia and Rachel for some assistances, and Bart who took down the big bad wolf himself. Give them applause."

Another round of applause, this time directed towards her and the rest of the team involved on the mall, which couldn't make her blush more.

"Now, does anyone want to give some announcements before we get our late night barbeques?" Damian asked.

Of course, Stephanie raised her hand, with her other hand grabbing very tight on her lovely fiancé.

"Stephanie?" Damian said.

"I'm going to need to announce one good news and one bad news." Stephanie said. "The bad news is that... Tim and I are planning for a retirement around probably after the next big mission happens or probably next year."

Lots of peoples expressed their disappointment either through groaning or a bit of a whine.

"I know, I know. That's really disappointing." Stephanie said. "But it's for something good, at least for me and Tim. We all had to take a break from saving the world. We need to hand it over to the youngsters. So the good news is that Tim just proposed to me and we're going to be married!"

And a whole lot more expressed their surprise. Bulging eyes with unrealistic proportions, jaws hanging from the top of their lungs, and cheers of joy and claps from everyone after all of that. Soon enough, every single member of the forums congratulate the fellow member about her revelation. They were all just like normal everyday peoples. That's what Cissie would've done if she had been married.

Now if only things can be as good as this in the future.


	26. Adversaries

C26: Adversaries

After lots of mission briefings which thankfully it wasn't too long, the actual party finally started. The conference room was all about the talks, but the swimming pool terrace on the sixth floor is where the real party begins. Not only that the swimming pool was put in bright lights mode, but the fact that the rest of the peoples completely torn off their clothes in favor of swimming suits. Wait, so what's the point of being formal if you're just going to lunge into the swimming pool?

Thankfully, it was just a choice. Only a few of the morons inside the forum would actually get into the bandwagon and jump into the pool. Perhaps more accurately free-spirited peoples. Stephanie looked like she was having a lot of fun even among the boys. It was probably because she's quite the free-spirited daredevil that would literally jump into the pool with her gown still intact. Other than her, there's Garfield, Victor, this Hispanic guy that had some sort of a beetle attached to his back, his Asian girlfriend, Megan, and even Donna.

Thanks to Damian's library of EDM music blasting through the subwoofer, the entire balcony shook like there was a vulcanic eruption. Everyone is either enjoying root beers on their red solo cups or late night barbeques, either swimming on the pool with their clothes off or standing casually with their expensive formal clothings. The barbeque alone magnetized her nose and put it into submission, and the swimming pool's lights in contrast with the dark skies of the evening made her to just enjoy it.

"Geronimo!"

Stephanie shouted as she jumped, curled herself into a ball, and dropped inside the pool. The entire water splashed through in almost every direction. Thankfully, the splash didn't go too far, as there was some sort of a force field somehow protecting the water splash from coming out.

"How does that work?" Cissie asked to Wally, standing right beside her with the cup near his mouth.

"It's just air." Wally said. "When water gets out, air bursts through one of the vents near the edge of the pool and block it. No splashes."

"That's actually pretty damn cool."

And that summed up this entire party so far. She personally had never went into a party with a group so intense, receptive, and compassionate. She never expected these kind of peoples to actually not rub her off in the wrong way. They have accepted her like she was already a part of them even if she's not in some sort of a ritual. Maybe perhaps it was her duty to be here. Maybe the Titans really were her calling, and yes she called it Titans. Her mind is not as anonymous as it should be.

Her hands were already a bit tired holding the red cup containing the root beer that she just picked up from the beer stand. Wally thankfully was mature enough not to get into the pool. After hanging sometimes with Cissie, he went to get some barbeques. Rachel is pretty evident to be just hanging on the corner reading some books she would consider actually interesting. Damian and Kory were eating barbeques together. And then Tim, Conner, and Bart chatting near the balcony.

She approached Rachel and to her surprise, she was a bit more receptive on having Cissie around. It was probably because Cissie is the only member around the group that actually understands a bit about politics, something a lot more relevant than a lot of peoples decide to think.

"Mind if I sit?" Cissie asked.

Rachel glanced back at her and smiled. "You're cool. I'll let you sit around, but don't hope that I'm going to reply something better."

"Right." Cissie said. "So this is what the forum is doing on their free time?"

"To be honest, we have a lot more free time than you can think of." Rachel said. "Four or five years we've been playing this game, and slowly but surely peoples understand how much power that the Titans can have."

"I thought your job is hunting supervillains."

"No, not really." Rachel said. "We don't hunt supervillains. We respond to them. We have the duties to protect innocent peoples and capture criminals who has commited a crime."

"So your movement is entirely reactionary?"

"Yeah, well it is now." Rachel said. "During the Brotherhood war, the Brotherhood kills lots of innocent peoples with genetically engineered soldiers and an army of metahumans. We turned our entire move to the offense, and even then lots of peoples are still dying."

"Are there cases like that?" Cissie said. "Are there times that you're going to move to the offense?"

"Yeah, and that's what worries me." Rachel said. "Because if we do, we're going to hurt peoples, and we're going to hurt a lot. Thankfully so far, the only time that actually happened was during the Brotherhood war, but that's because the Brotherhood is devil's incarnate that we had no choice but to go for war. We did kill some peoples, and we're not sure what to feel. Should we feel good because we take down a scum of the Earth, or should we feel bad because we're the one who decides their end?"

"Did you ever lose someone from the group?"

"Yeah, we lost a few peoples." Rachel said. "Garfield has a girl that he really likes. He probably loves her more than anyone else in the world, but the Brotherhood took her out."

"Wow." Cissie said. "I'm sorry."

"You don't even want to go to the details how they took her out." Rachel said. "Seriously, don't talk about the Brotherhood in front of him or in fact any other members. You're going to bring some seriously bad memories. All of that because we have suffered failure, every single one of us has failed, constantly, all throughout that one painful year. It's almost like torture. We're being punished, beaten up, physically and mentally. Peoples are dying left and right. We were constantly terrorized by those failures, probably even to this day. The Brotherhood brought us to our lowest point. We got angry, emotional, and even I had to suffer through that. It's uncomfortable, but nothing is when shit hits the fan."

"You're right." Cissie said. "And I'm just sitting here watching everyone having fun and being mindless for everything, trying to forget all of that. I'm not complaining, because I tried to have fun in these times too. I had some bad memories, but there's nothing that I could do about it. It's there."

"And that's fine." Rachel said. "The Titans had to at least suffer failure, and the Brotherhood, despite our victory, is one of our biggest failures."

Cissie chug down some of the alcohol, trying to get the depressing thought out of her mind. The music didn't blast through. The playlist randomly play a chilling song which was quite convenient for the depressing conversation. She hadn't fully joined the group yet, but she could already understand the pain and suffering that the group had to go through to even take the Brotherhood down.

"And the strangest part is there are some peoples who still criticize you." Cissie said. "I'm not going to lie, you did good with the Brotherhood. You saved the world. You killed the big man. Congratulations. Then you have some peoples bashing you over the mass media again, claiming to be something that you're not."

"We have never claimed ourselves to be heroes." Rachel said. "Only the lives that we save and the peoples that we helped can claim us to be heroes. It's a title that we earned, and we're proud of that."

"Have you ever had a thought that one day the whole group might fail on something again?" Cissie said.

"No one will ever come into success if they're not willing to subject themselves into a lot of failures." Rachel said. "We had to get out of our comfort zone, because from our failures we learn."

"So what have you learned from it?"

"I think it's fair if I asked you that question first."

Cissie raised her eyebrows as Rachel turned her question back onto her. And to be fair, Rachel is right. She's the one who had more experience, and perhaps listening to the inexperienced would probably put her into perspective.

"Well," Cissie began. "What I learned is that killing is bad and nothing would ever justify it, but sometimes you just have to. By the time you do, you're going to get scarred for life, and everyone here had suffered through it."

"We all have that ethical code: We should not kill, no exception." Rachel said. "But that's just the rule written on the paper. When you apply that here in the real world, there has to be exceptions. The rules cannot fundamentally be accurate. We have to take exceptions, and Brotherhood is one big exception. That's what I learned."

"I'm scared that you all had to be killers." Cissie said. "I'm scared that I had to be a killer."

"That doesn't stop you from at least try not to be." Rachel said. "Killing is not always going to be the answer. You need to at least try to be rational about it."

"I know." Cissie said. "I think I'm going to get some barbeque out. I'm a bit famished."

"You go ahead." Rachel said. "I'm comfortable here. Oh and Cissie?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for the talk." Rachel said. "You're not as bad as your father or your sister. I'm sorry about him by the way."

"You don't have to." Cissie said. "I'm a bit sad, but he got what he deserved. That's the life he chose. Me? Even if I'm going to kill, even if I'm going to be killed, at least peoples will know that I die saving the world. That's what's important."

Rachel smiled. Perhaps Rachel was the type of person who actually rarely smiled, but beyond her jaded face was an actual soul of a human being. Her smile noted that a lot, and she couldn't be happier that someone would be accepting of her here.

##

It was quite the surprising talk that she got with Cissie last time. The party was over in about midnight. Everyone had already came back to their own bed. She swore that she could see Damian making out with Kory before barging inside the room and doing god knows what else. Eh, it was quite the watch.

Rachel came right near the door towards her room, but before she could do so, Garfield is already outside. She wasn't very sure why he was in front of her room, though. It probably had something to do with annoying the living hell out of her again.

"Hey, Rae." Garfield began. "Sorry if I startled you."

"No, you're not." Rachel said. "If interdimensional demons don't startle me, you're not going to be."

"That's great." Garfield said. "Peoples are still going to have nightmares when I'm in full beast mode."

"You can't imagine." Rachel said. "Every single time peoples saw you in your eyes, they'll see nothing but the monster that put the most violent man in the entire the Titans to his doom for a few months. By the time they know your full form, you'll be banished, forgotten, and left to rot by those you deemed superior."

"Wait what?"

"What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you about something." Garfield said. "It's kind of important and um... did you bring in some herbal tea?"

"Uh... yeah I did."

"Maybe we can talk for a bit?" Garfield said. "Have a tea party or something."

Honestly, Rachel could do nothing else but to raise her eyebrows in confusion.

##

It's quite surprising that Garfield actually came in to her for a tea party. It's not just a normal tea party. They didn't really have the best cup for the day, so they had to use the beer plastic cup for the tea, but that doesn't really matter. Garfield and Rachel were leaning on the balcony looking at the midnight sky, with a blue moon high above the ground shining bright illuminating the dark knight of Star City.

It's not completely out of character for him to have a tea party with someone, but the most surprising thing is that he didn't mind mint. Some of the peoples on her spectrum does and that was quite bothersome. It's not that they hated mint, but they just find the taste overrated.

"So what do you want to talk about?" Rachel said. "Please tell me you're not overhearing things that I said to Cissie."

"Honestly I did." Garfield said. "And you know, that kind of intrigues me."

"You, getting intrigued with the failures of the entire team?" Rachel said. "What kind of world am I living in?"

"No seriously." Garfield said. "Will you at least stop joking around? Why are you the one joking now?"

"Maybe because I can't take you seriously as a person." Rachel said.

"Oh now you're messing with me."

"Someone has to."

Garfield bit his lips and took another sip of the mint. "At least your mint doesn't suck."

"Try harder, Gar." Rachel said. " I've made it for you for like four years. Of course it doesn't suck. You're pretty much accustomed by it now."

"You hypocrite."

Rachel raised her eyebrows and glared at him. "Excuse me?"

"You don't want me to joke around on you and not take you seriously. Fine, I can do that." Garfield said. "But when I try to do it, you scoff me off like I'm the manifestation of Monday Morning."

"Garfield, you have no rights to steal how I do things." Rachel said. "That's just not you."

"I'm trying Rachel, because the truth is I really like you." Garfield said. "Oh wait, wait a second... Oh... crap! You're smart."

"What is it?"

"Did you just use your empath to figure out how I feel and then later you deliberately insult me so that I can think a second thought?" Garfield said. "You're very evil, Rae. You're a very evil witch."

Rachel shrugged. "That's not going to be effective to insult me."

"I'm not insulting you!" Garfield said. "I have never insulted you in my entire life. I admire you, even. Is it because your dad is a demon and therefore, I'm not allowed to get closer to you?"

"No, it's not because of that Gar." Rachel said. "It's because... I'm not comfortable with you going after me when you haven't even moved on from her."

"I have." Garfield said. "I'm all alone now. I don't want Terra to get to my mind every time I come alone. I need someone else, Rae. I need you."

Rachel was honestly bewildered by how much honesty that Garfield put in every sentence. She knew when peoples are genuinely lying, and Garfield certainly did not lie of a single thing.

"For the record, that's one of the weirdest pick-up lines that I've ever heard in my entire life." Rachel said. "Although I admit, it doesn't mean that I'm not interested."

"So are you?"

"I... I don't know, okay?" Rachel said. "I never got used to being with someone else, you know?"

Garfield took Rachel's cup of tea and put it on the side of the balcony. She wasn't even sure how that happened. She continued on her rambling as Garfield did that.

"I... I've been with someone... technically I have." Rachel said. "But if you're coming here just to hit on with me, I'm going to-"

That's where the inevitable - or the evitable - happens. Garfield completely braked on Rachel's talking by doing the one single thing that should've gotten him a punch in the face or a broken nose. But instead, she stopped, widened her eyes, and the moment she realized what he just did, she closed her eyes and embraced it together. She knew that he's going to do it one day, and either way there's no way to make herself to be prepared for it, that sudden kiss of death.

Strangely enough, despite the sudden move, the longer Garfield's pushed his muscular body against her, the more she wanted him to. After about two seconds, she closed her eyes and grabbed in on Garfield's face, pulling him closer to her oral caverns. She honestly never thought that the vegetarian, tofu-loving Beast Man could taste so great, and the fact that his entire body pressed against her really seals the deal.

Slowly, the two got out of their clutch and stared at each of their eyes. The Blue Moon shine quite bright tonight, and their eyes couldn't be brighter after they embraced on each other.

"Wow." Rachel said. "I... I never thought that it felt that good."

"I know, right?" Garfield cupped her cheeks and finally confessed. "Seriously Rachel, I... I really love you."

"I... I think I love you too." Rachel said. "Garfield um... I know this is weird for me to ask, but... will you stay with me for tonight?"

"I..." Garfield said. "I'd love to. Of course. I'll stay. Anything for you, Rae."

"Thanks." Rachel smiled.

##

_A/N: Starting College is quite the bitch, so I'm going to have to take a break. _


	27. END NOTES

I'm afraid that has to be the end of Out of the Box. Thank you so much for everyone who has been following and reviewing this series. I really want to continue, but I have absolutely no idea what to continue. I've been in writer's block and having no idea what to do to continue it.

The thing is Out of the Box is supposed to be a Season 4 of a series that I'm planning which start off as a Teen Titans series but then later cross paths with Young Justice.

So to kill some time, I write two other fanfictions: One is called Define 'Hero' which is more like a prequel of Out of the Box. If you want to read it you should definitely check it out. It has the mature tone that you expect from Out of the Box. Then there is Play God which is a Batman fanfiction and has a lot more crime/drama than the superhero stuff so if you like crime/drama, then go for that one too.

Once again, thank you so much for following the series, and I'm really hoping that you guys have a good time on reading it. Take care!

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)


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